It is one of the most important works of ancient Egyptian art – a work that was created 3,370 years ago and is worth an estimated 400 million euros. The bust of Nefertiti was discovered in 1912 by a group of archaeologists led by the German Ludwig Borchardt in the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose in the city of Tel-el-Amarna, Egypt. From then until today, i.e. for more than 100 years, the bust has been in Berlin, where it has been exhibited in the New Museum since 1924.

However, pressure to repatriate the beautiful pharaoh is mounting. Last September, Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass began collecting signatures for its return: “This bust, which is unique due to its historical and artistic value, is located in Germany. Now the time has come for him to return to Egypt,” the relevant text states. Hawass had made a similar effort in the past – as Egypt’s minister of antiquities he had again advocated the return of Nefertiti.

A symbol of colonialism?

Nefertiti is often referred to as Egypt’s ambassador to Germany. However, Egyptologist Monica Hanna disagrees with this expression, since the ambassador is part of a “diplomatic exchange”. But in this case, what has Germany given in return for Nefertiti? “Probably nothing,” says the archaeologist and adds: “When you can only travel in one direction, then you are not an ambassador, but a hostage.”

The Egyptologist has spoken many times publicly about the “decolonization of Egyptian archaeology”. The initiative to return Nefertiti is met with so much resistance because “it could pave the way for the return of many other objects that were stolen during colonialism,” Hanna explains.

In his petition, Hawass also asks for the return of the Rosetta Column and the Zodiac of Dendera, which are located in London and Paris respectively.

The stop of the Berlin Museum

The Prussian Heritage Foundation, which is responsible for the collections on display at the Berlin Museum, has acknowledged that the exhibits also include art stolen during the colonial period – among them the Benin Bronzes, some of which have been returned in Nigeria in 2022.

As far as Nefertiti is concerned, however, the Foundation considers that it is the rightful owner of the bust. “The bust of Nefertiti was found in an excavation that had received permission from the Egyptian Antiquities Administration,” emphasizes Stefan Michler, a representative of the Foundation. “It was taken to Berlin after a division of the finds, which included many other items. In other words, the bust was legally taken out of the country and the Egyptian government has no claim to its return,” says Michler in a written statement to DW.

The representative of the Foundation points out that Germany and Egypt had equally shared the total of 10,000 ancient finds (because the excavations had been financed by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft) and that a representative of the Egyptian government had chosen those that the country would keep, while the the rest were taken to Germany – among them the bust of Nefertiti.

Opinions differ

Of course, not everyone adopts Michler’s point of view. According to Hawass, in 1913 the Germans literally stole the bust of Nefertiti: they hid it and smuggled it out of the country, despite the fact that the export of exceptional archaeological findings from Egypt was prohibited.

And according to the website Returning Heritage “the Egyptian state maintained a right of veto over all objects it may have deemed to be of great importance, so that they could not be exported abroad”. As editor Lewis McNaught writes in the related text, Ludwig Borchardt probably presented the bust as a much more insignificant find than it really was.

The bust was brought to Germany several years before the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. This impressive discovery prompted Egypt to “no longer recognize foreign teams of archaeologists the right to take important finds with them,” McNaught writes.

Regarding the Hawas campaign, the expert considers it “highly unlikely” that the Egyptian archaeologist will succeed – unless he or the Egyptian authorities “present new evidence that proves that Egypt was the victim of a deliberate deception”, such as McNaught tells DW. “How the findings of such excavations were shared at the time is usually a mystery.”

Edited by: Giorgos Passas