Egypt petition launch urges Berlin museum return Nefertiti bust

A prominent Egyptian has launched a petition calling for the return of the bust of Queen Nefertiti from the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany.

CAIRO — The splendor of the Queen of the Nile is the star not of any Egyptian museum, but of the Neues Museum in the German capital, Berlin, where thousands admire the 3,400-year-old bust of Nefertiti every day in a domed hall.

Now a campaign led by Zahi Hawass, a renowned archaeologist and Egypt’s former antiquities minister, aims to change that and end the country's decadeslong struggle to bring the queen home, along with dozens of other historical artifacts.

“This bust, remarkable and unrivaled in history for its historical and aesthetic merit, is now in Germany, but it is time for it to come home to Egypt,” Hawass said in a news release Saturday announcing the launch of a petition calling for its return.

Hawass said in a telephone interview Monday: "This is a masterpiece of art. It is considered the most beautiful statue ever found. Therefore, the home of the bust should be the Grand Egyptian Museum. All the evidence shows that this bust left Egypt illegally."

The Nefertiti bust on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin. Michael Sohn / AP fileThe painted limestone bust was uncovered by a German archaeological mission in 1912 at Tell el-Amarna, a site about 185 miles south of Cairo that was the capital of Nefertiti's short-lived husband, the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten. It was transported to Berlin a year later.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nefertiti-bust-return-egypt-petition-berlin-museum-rcna170171

---