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Egypt issues official repatriation request for famous Berlin bust of Queen Nefertiti

Queen Nefertiti - Nofretete in German - was last moved in 2009, to take her place at the renovated Neues Museum, Berlin.The Supreme Council of Antiquities announced today that Secretary General Dr. Zahi Hawass has sent an official request for the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti to be returned to Egypt. This request was approved by the Prime Minister of Egypt, Dr. Ahmed Nazif, and Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosny, after four years of research by a legal committee composed of legal personnel and Egyptologists.

Update: Response from the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which states the letter was _not_ signed by Egypt’s Prime Minister, and thus is not official, in the comments.

The request letter was send to Dr. Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, who previously clearly stated Nofretete bleibt in Berlin! – Nefertiti stays in Berlin. This Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Berlin is the governing body of all state museums in Germany, including the Neues Museum, where the Nefertiti bust is currently located, accessioned as Inventory No. AM 21300. In addition, a copy of the letter has been given to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cultural Department to forward on to the Egyptian Ambassador to Germany who will, in turn, send it to Dr. Parzinger. The SCA has sent a third copy of the letter to the German Ambassador to Egypt.

Dr. Hawass said that this request is a natural consequence of Egypts long-standing policy of seeking the restitution of all archaeological and historical artifacts that have been taken illicitly out of the country, especially those items that are considered unique. The painted bust of Nefertiti is universally recognized as a unique and irreplaceable artifact.

The 3,400-year-oldbust is also first on the Wish List of five important objects that Egypt hopes to have returned, as announced on April 8th, 2010, at the Conference on International Cooperation for the Protection and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage.

In a statement issued by the SCA, Dr. Hawass says he and the Government of Egypt are confident that the German authorities will act in accordance with article 13(b) of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970), which calls on all states party to the convention to ensure that their competent services cooperate in facilitating the earliest possible restitution of illicitly exported cultural property to its rightful owner.

In this context it should be pointed out that in 1978 the Director General of UNESCO issued A Plea for the Return of an Irreplaceable Cultural Heritage to those who Created it, and called upon those responsible for preserving and restoring works of art to facilitate, by their advice and actions, the return of such works to the countries where they were created.

Egypt recognizes, and appreciates, the care and effort undertaken by the Government of Germany to preserve and display the painted limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti. Inspired by the excellent relations between our two countries, the Government of Egypt is confident that the German authorities will assist in facilitating its return.

After World War II, Egypt made another formal request, this time to the Allied Control Council, who at that time was responsible for art objects in Germany. The Legation of His Majesty the King of Egypt at Prague sent a memorandum, dated April 14, 1946, to the Allied Control requesting the repatriation of the Nefertiti head, which was followed up by an official request from the Egyptian Ambassador to the US Secretary of State, dated February 21, 1947.

On March 8, 1947, the Allied Control answered that they did not feel that they had the authority to make this decision, and recommended that the request be made again after a competent German Government had been reestablished.

The statement further reads: “Egypt recognizes, and appreciates, the care and effort undertaken by the Government of Germany to preserve and display the painted limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti. Inspired by the excellent relations between our two countries, the Government of Egypt is confident that the German authorities will assist in facilitating its return. The Government and People of Egypt are eager that this unique treasure be returned to the possession of its rightful owners, the Egyptian People.”

Dr. Hawass added that the bust of Nefertiti, upon its return, will be exhibited at the Akhenaten Museum in Minya opening in early 2012.

The Bust of Nefertiti was excavated by the team of Ludwig Borchardt on December 6, 1912. It was found in the workshop of court sculptor Thutmose, at Amarna. At the time Egypt was under French control, and excavation regulations stated only that unique discoveries would become part of the Egyptian national collection and that half of what remained was to go to the excavator.

In 1923 Nefertiti went on display in Germany, and she has been hounded by controversy ever since. Not only the ownership of the limestone bust(10 reasons why she should stay in Berlin, by Bija), but also its authenticity(the only thing Dr Hawass and Berlin seem to agree upon) is often debated.

King Tut Inc – Treasures Worth More Outside of Egypt

AnubisAccording to figures quoted at an archaeological conference last week by Dr Zahi Hawass, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has generated more revenue in recent years from sending treasures of Tutankhamun abroad than it has from collections in the countrys own museums. That includes the Howard Carter collection at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which features key pieces from King Tuts tomb such as the Golden Death Mask (some amazing picture of which you can view here) and coffins deemed too fragile or unwieldy to travel outwith the country.

The SCA has made over $100 million from its pair of official touring exhibitions of King Tut which have criss-crossed North America since 2005. Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs has visited Dallas and San Francisco on its travels and is currently in the middle of a long run at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York (even though Hawass insists it deserved the Met), while Tutankhamun the Golden King and the Great Pharaohs has been to Atlanta, Indianapolis and Ontario and is at present resident at Denver Art Museum.

At the conference Egypt between past, present and future, organised by the Al-Samra Institution for Environment and Development, SCA secretary general Hawass quoted the total revenue taken in the same period by the SCA both from museums inside the country and antiquities traveling abroad as being one billion Egyptian pounds about $176 million. That means the income from other touring exhibitions and Egyptian museums combined was worth just over $76 million a huge sum, but still $24 million less than the amount made by Tut on his travels.

It underscores the overwhelming success of Dr Hawass and the SCAs policy of using touring exhibitions to bankroll their activities back in Egypt.

Yet, doesnt the increasingly dramatic skew towards externally generated revenue also suggest that the SCAs business activities abroad are beginning to eclipse their responsibilities closer to home even though recent industry analysis shows that tourism in Egypt is bucking global trends and growing at a dramatic rate? Has Dr Hawass turned the SCA into a purely profited-driven operation, which has lost sight of its obligation to ensure its treasures are accessible to the largest possible number of people, both in Egypt and around the world, and not just the highest bidder?

Shouldnt the SCA focus on amassing all of their treasures at home, and bringing as many of these new tourists as possible into Egypts museums?

Brand Tut and Egypt Inc.

Hawass makes no bones of his desire to wring every available penny out of Brand Tut and Egypt Inc. In reference to the boy kings earliest foreign adventures the famous exhibitions in Britain and America in the 1970s, which the Egyptian authorities had to fund out of their own pocket the SCA supremo earlier this year told Businessweek: If I had managed the old exhibits, Egypt would be rolling in money.

Certainly, profits have skyrocketed since Hawass took charge of the SCA in 2002, and continue to rise. In a five year period between 2003 and 2008, the SCA earned almost $350 million from a total of 23 different exhibitions sent abroad around $70 million a year. With Tuts profit-margin ever increasing, that figure could double over the next five years.

The fee levied for each King Tut exhibition is a whopping $10 million for six months, with several million dollars more being earned by the SCA in sponsorship and merchandising (the SCA retains exclusive rights to sell replicas of its artefacts, for example).

The result has been the creation, in effect, of a hierarchy of King Tut haves and have nots. The Australian Museum in Sydney recently complained that they nor any other Australian institution for that matter could not afford such price tag, despite Hawass professing to being eager to see Tut travel down under. It explains why Tut hardly has a wide variety of stamps on his passport. Greater Los Angeles has almost 20 million people within 1.5 hours drive of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs debuted in 2005. Thats nearly as much as as Australias entire population combined.

But for a spell at the O2 Arena in London between November 2007 and August 2008, and at the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna from March and September 2008, the King Tut travelling collection has spent almost all of its time in North America since 2005. Predominantly its been in the USA. The worlds largest economy has established something of a monopoly over the Tutankhamun roadshow.

Should Egypt be Sending its Treasures Abroad at All?

Many voices argue that the SCA shouldnt be sending its treasures abroad at all, complaining that it puts irreplaceable antiquities at unnecessary risk of damage, loss or theft.

The SCA counter by insisting that the strictest standards of care and security are always met, and that all artefacts are insured to the hilt. The money raised from commercial activities in foreign countries, they say, is essential to fund the care of monuments and museums in Egypt, which are massively expensive. The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, currently under construction and due to open in 2012 or 2013, is the main project currently being largely funded with King Tuts earnings abroad. Its price-tag currently stands at an estimated $550 million.

Further, the SCA argue that Tut tours act as important ambassadors for Egypt, sparking interest in the country and its wealth of ancient heritage, giving the tourist industry which generates around 11% of GDP extra impetus. The host countries too stand to reap considerable returns from the exhibitions.

Theres no denying that the Egyptian tourist industry is rude health at present figures released this week show tourism revenues defied global trends and reached $5.58 billion in the first half of 2010, compared to $4.6 billion in the same period last year. Industry analysts predict revenues to reach $12.4 billion by the end of the fiscal year, up on $10.8 billion in 2009.

Yet, shouldnt the fact that the profits from Tut on tour are now so outstripping revenue from Egypts museum suggest to the SCA that their focus should be on amassing all of their treasures at home, and bringing as many of these new tourists as possible who include holidaymakers driven out of the eurozone by high prices, and increasing numbers of Russian visitors into Egypts museums?

Hawass has insisted on several occasions in the past that once the two King Tut exhibitions currently running in the US come to an end in 2011, the boy kings treasures will never leave Egypt again. But the SCA chief has since contradicted himself by announcing that Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs will appear in Seattle between May 2012 and January 2013. He also hasn’t given up hope on Tut visiting Australia. I want to see King Tut go to Australia, he told the Sydney Morning Herald last December. Nothing like this has ever been to Australia before, and it will be many, many years before the opportunity will come again.

Savings and Loans

The debate over touring exhibitions raises questions about the real motivation behind Hawass and the SCAs zeal for artefact repatriation. The Rosetta Stone, the Bust of Nefertiti and the Dendera Zodiac are among a list of Egyptian antiquities in the possession of foreign museums that Hawass has firmly in his sights he wants them back, and has vowed to make life miserable for anyone who keeps them. He often offers a moral argument for why the artefacts should be repatriated theyre Egyptian treasures, taken under colonial-era conditions, and they should be returned to their country of origin.

Yet, doesnt the fact that so many of Tuts treasures have been abroad for over five years now suggest that Hawass has no moral qualms about precious Egyptian treasures residing abroad for long periods of time, as long as its the SCA and Egypt that are profiting from them? If the Egyptians were successful in getting the Rosetta Stone or Bust of Nefertiti back, are we to believe that they would really keep them in Egyptian museums on a permanent basis when they could clearly reap spectacular profits from sending them out on loan to the US?

When the Grand Egyptian Museum is completed, and Egypt has a brand new focal point for its collections not to mention all the exhibition space necessary for displaying them can we expect to see the full panoply of Tutankhamun treasures and all other key pieces from the land of the pharaohs currently in the SCAs possession assembled permanently in one place? Judging by the huge figures quoted by Hawass, that seems unlikely.

If you can’t wait for the treasures of Tutankhamun to be prized away from America’s greedy grasp, you can check them out now, for free, in Heritage Key’s King Tut Virtual!

‘Duckfretete’ Nefertiti Invades Germany

Duckomenta - A quack to far?We’re all strangely used to Donald Duck wearing nothing but a sailor’s shirt (it’d get him an ASBO these days), but what about Walt Disney’s second most famous creation as Queen Nefertiti, or the Mona Lisa? Or, if the site of a cross-dressing Donald shatters your childhood memories, how about Duckbert Einstein, or Duck Guevara?

Duckomenta is one of this year’s stranger exhibitions. Taking Donald as their launchpad, artist cliqu InterDuck (that’s right) have recreated a plethora of famous pieces of art with the rasp-tongued mallard as star. But while the show, which visits Hildesheim’s Roemer-und-Pelizaeus Museum (in hot water with SCA chief Zahi Hawass over its display of the Statue of Hemiunu) from September until next May (2011), has plenty of great takes on famous historical paintings, our favourite has to be ‘Duckfretete’, Donald’s turn as the Bust of Nefertiti.

Dr Hawass may be the only person on the planet not to see the show’s funny side, as he continues his uphill struggle to repatriate the bust from Berlin’s Neues Museum. But InterDuck (no, really) will hardly care: their creations have been enjoyed by over a million people since 1984.

Donald Fauntleroy Duck is no stranger to ancient Egypt. An episode of the Duck Tales series saw his family travel to see the pyramids, Sphinx et al, while I hope the video below will reacquaint you with one of the best games ever made for the Mega Drive (or Genesis for those of you across the pond). That cheesy 8-bit music and Arabesqe meanies are vital to the plot and in no way stereotyping Egyptians, honest.

Duckomenta runs at the Roemer-und-Pelizaeus Museum from September 11 to May 1. If you’ve seen the show, let us know what you think in the comments below!

‘Nefertiti Stays in Berlin!’ Germany Confirms Once More

'Nofretete' (Nefertiti) only recently moved to her new home in the Neues MuseumGermany has made a firm response to last week’s announcement by Zahi Hawass that Egyptian government will officially demand the return of the Bust of Nefertiti. Minister of Culture Bern Neumann today made it clear once again that the bust is going nowhere: Nofretete stays in Berlin!

Hawass claims the bust of Nefertiti Nofretete in German was smuggled out of Egypt illegally and should be returned. According to Egypt’s head of antiquities, archaeologist Ludwig Borchard intentionally lied to Egyptian officials about the value of the bust.

Bernd Neumann, also board member of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which oversees the Neues Museum where Nefertiti is now housed, stresses that the acquisition of the bust by the German Oriental Society and later by the Prussian state was legal. This can be documented beyond doubt, he says. There is thus no legal foundation for the Egyptian claim for the return of the Nefertiti Bust.

Nofretete bleibt in Berlin!

Neumann adds, The highlight of the Egyptian collection at the Neues Museum, Nefertiti is now the best and most beautiful ambassador of Egyptian art and culture in Germany. She also enjoys the greatest possible conservation precautions, which are needed because of her fragile condition.

The statement issued by the German government stresses that on several occasions the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has already justified the acquisition of the Nefertiti Bust by supplying the necessary details. In 1913 it was agreed by the German archaeological team that the finds from Amarna would be divided in half. The Egyptian Antiquities Service, as a representative of the Egyptian government, made the selection. The colourful Nefertiti Bust was allocated to Germany.

In 2007 Egypts loan request for the bust was rejected by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation over concerns of the artefact’s fragility, which makes it unfit for travel. Neumann supports the foundation in this position.

In 2009, the Bust of Nefertiti was moved (see images of the move)to the renovated Neues Museum,where she first went on display in 1924. Who ‘she’ belongs to is not the only ongoing debate concerning the bust. In the past decades, various scholars have claimed the bust is a fake.

Bija has previously listed 10 Reasons why the Bust of Nefertiti should (and will) stay in Berlin. Do you agree? Even if Egypt does not have a legal claim, is there an ‘ethical’ one?Or is Nofretete better off in Germany?

Nefertiti Bust Should Stay in Berlin (No Matter What Hawass Says)

The bust of Nefertiti, gyptisches Museum Berlin

This week Egypt’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawassplans to make a formal request for the return of the Bust of Nefertiti from Berlin. Neues Museum officials have already dismissed his continued attacks on the legality of the bust’s ownership, and are all but certain not to let go of their most prized asset. Hawass still has the backing of millions worldwide. But Nefertiti should stay where she is, and his quest to repatriate Egypt’s ancient relics is misguided, dangerous even, to Egypt’s cultural heritage.

Dr Hawass has been planning the campaign for quite some time: in August last year he told Heritage Key he would “reveal (the evidence for Nefertiti’s return) in October (09) when I write the letter to the Berlin Museum for the return of the piece, because it left Egypt illegally.” The evidence can’t be too compelling for him to have postponed the project for nearly eight months. “We are no longer discussing whether to do this, but only how to formulate this demand,” he added to a German press agency recently.

Prussian Cultural Heritage, which safeguards the Neues among other high-profile museums, was having none of it. A request from Egypt to return (Nefertiti) has not reached us yet, a spokesman says. Everything has been said on this subject, adds Germany’s Ministry of Culture. “Nefertiti is accepted, not assimilated. She keeps her separateness and her uniqueness – yet she belongs here,” says top German Egyptologist Dietrich Wildung. It seems Hawass’ claim will not so much fall flat as barely make it onto two feet at all.

Borchardt may have played a cool hand, but Nefertiti should go nowhere

Hawass and Egypt have argued for decades that the Bust was stolen by archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt in 1913. It’s true to say Borchardt’s intentions weren’t completely noble when he ‘accidentally’ noted the Bust was made from gypsum, when in fact it is fashioned from limestone and stucco, and photographed it in a poor light. But Germany claims Egyptian officials had the chance to check all the items Borchardt took back to Europe, an offer they declined. Nefertiti was at the top of the exchange list,says the German Oriental Society, the inspector could have looked at everything closely at the time. It’s not admissible to complain about the deal reached at the time.

Hawass should drop the issue: Nefertiti is going nowhere. There’s no doubting Hawass’ good intentions: he feels these items are stolen and he wants them for the Egyptian people. He sees Nefertiti as a hostage, trapped thousands of miles from home. But she’s one of Egypt’s greatest ambassadors, and is doing more good from Berlin than she could ever do from Cairo.

Over half a million people see the Bust each year, many of whom aren’t necessarily interested in ancient Egypt. It’s these people who flock from all over the world to Egypt on holiday, having seen its ancient treasures in a museum back home. For a country whose tourism industry is worth a reported $12.5 billion (8.7 billion) it would be unwise to take blockbuster pieces like Nefertiti and the Rosetta Stone back to Egypt, when they’re creating such a strong global brand.

Hawass, ironically, proves this point perfectly every time he globetrots to another western nation, extolling the virtues of ancient Egypt before another giant exhibition. Would they still be interested in him if they couldn’t get a bite of Egypt on their doorstep? With his grizzled looks and Indiana Jones wardrobe, Dr Hawass knows how to play the underdog battling colonial tyrannies. But this isn’t Repatriation: The Movie, and you can only complain so much when you’re knocking back vol-au-vents with the enemy.

New! Live Music and Amarna Area in King Tut Virtual

Get up close and personal with the Bust of Nefertiti in Heritage Key Virtual's new Amarna! Image by Meral CrifasiWe’re always busy at Heritage Key striving to bring you exciting new activities and more places to explore. If you have been to King Tut Virtual before you might have had a visit to the Amarna area by the Nile. We have been really extending that area to give you a sign of how life was by the Nile around 1350 BC.

If you come along to the Amarna area now, we’ll offer to dress your avatar as an Egyptian from head to toe, and even get you to dance like an Egyptian. Also, to celebrate the launch of this newly-expanded area, we’re hosting two amazing free gigs in Amarna Virtual.

What You’ll Learn of Your Trip to the Nile

When you arrive in Heritage Key Virtual and get to the travel hub, you’ll see the sign ‘Life on the Nile 1350 BC’. Select this option and we will teleport you to the Amarna area, where you can see the Amarna house, and some of the era’s most distinctive artefacts, including the much-debated, and admired, Bust of Nefertiti.

Try your hand at cooking in Ancient Egypt!See the Amarna Letters – over 300 of them – which were discovered when locals tried to sell several. These tablets reveal a lot about the legal framework and diplomacy of the period. These letters allow for discussion about the political climate at the time, and the impact of Akhenatens revolution.

You can also learn about the nature and the wildlife around the Nile, and spot hippos, crocodiles, fish and birds along the Nile and surrounding area. Meet the fictional scribe of the royal court who resides in our Amarna house, and find out what his day to day life is like. His son is training to do the same job. Other jobs described, shown, or mentioned include vizier, musician, farmer, fisherman, artisan, artist, and servant.

Before you leave Amarna, be sure to try your hand at our ‘Royal Match’ game. In this task you need to pair off three royal couples of the 18th dynasty. Get it right and you win a fantastic reward.

Things to do in Amarna

There’s plenty to do during your visit to the Nile. Try your hand at bread-making, chariot repair, playing the Zumara and Lute, applying Egyptian make-up, and gathering reeds. After all that, you can also try cooling off and relaxing on an Amarna rooftop.

Here are a few things that you can do in our Amarna area:

  • Uncover – find four clay tablets containing clues to a plot against the royal court, as well as who in the household to tell about it. Be careful to tell the right person!
  • Explore – a day-in-the-life challenge that has you exploring seven different tasks – do them all and your reward is a walk-like-an-Egyptian AO and ring.
  • Create – an exploration of the art of the Amarna period – collect a rubbing of all of the items while wearing the charcoal and paper (don’t try this in a RL museum) and you’ll be rewarded.
  • Challenge – do battle on a Nile river raft, either against a friend, or against the river gods. This is a classic rock-papyrus-scissors battle, with the added danger of lurking hippos.
  • Match – find the ‘Royal Match’ game in the house and match the three royal couples to receive your own Sobek mask.

Relax by the river Nile and listen to some great music next weekend in Heritage Key Virtual!

Live Music This Week For the Opening

To celebrate the opening of this great area of the virtual ancient world, we have two amazing live music events coming up, featuring California artists Eric Sampson and Craig Lyons.

Eric Sampson Performs on Wednesday 21st April at 20hr GMT.

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Sampson’s blend of soul, rock and pop is coming to Amarna Virtual on Wednesday 21th of April 20hr GMT. Eric has strummed at some of LA’s most happening nightspots, including The Rainbow, The Viper Room, Key Club, The Mint, Molly Malones and the House of Blues, and just released his first album, There For Me. Hear his music and see some of his videos on his MySpace page.

Craig Lyons will be performing on Saturday 24th April at 21hr GMT.

Craig is a passionate songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer who exploded into LA’s independent music scene with the release of his fourth album OnReflection. He was quickly picked up by Universal Music, Fox and MTV. He has been twice nominated for the LAMusic Awards, and scooped ‘Artist of the Year’ at the Star Music Awards in 2008. Craig is a passionate environmentalist, and loves to gig virtually. Help the music industry reduce its carbon footprint by joining Craig in the virtual area for a concert to remember. You can check his profile and music at his website or MySpace page, or you can follow him on Twitter.

Play to Win a Holiday in Turkey!

To take part in these free gigs, just turn up in Amarna Virtual at the specified dates and times, and let us treat you to some real live California soul. We have more events in the pipeline, and will let you know details as soon as we can release them. In the meantime, check our Ancient World in London series, where there are plenty more competitions, quizzes and other things to do. There’s not long left to earn enough points to qualify you to win a holiday in Turkey, and this week we’re giving away bonus points, so get exploring!

Switzerland returns Pharaoh Akhenaton’s toe to Egypt

Dr Zahi Hawass sat down with the Swiss and agreed a deal for repatriation of Egyptian artefacts. Image Credit - SCA.Switzerland today signed an agreement for the repatriation of all illegally-obtained antiquities of Egyptian origin currently within their borders, according to a press release circulated by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). It represents a major victory for Egypt in its battle against global artefact theft, since many stolen treasures from Egypt are smuggled via Switzerland.

The agreement is the latest of 16 such treaties Egypt has reached with foreign nations since 2002. The SCA press release adds that Secretary General of the SCA Zahi Hawass is currently in the process now of forming agreements with other countries.

The deal comes in the wake of a two-day international conference in Cairo last week, attended by 20 countries, at which Hawass led a call for states around the world seeking the repatriation of antiquities to unite in their efforts.

Over the past few years, hundreds of Egyptian objects have been repatriated from Switzerland to Egypt. They include the eye of Amenhotep III which was stolen from a statue of the pharaoh at Luxor in 1972 then later sold to the Art Museum of Basel by a German dealer and a variety of artefacts that entered the country via Tarek El-Sweissi, the former head of the National Democratic Party for the Giza area, who in 2003 was charged with heading a multi-million dollar antiquities smuggling ring.

Toe be or not toe be? Dr Zahi Hawass agrees a deal with the Swiss. Image Credit - SCA.Zahi Hawass has made it his mission since beginning his tenure as chief of the SCA in 2002 to recover Egyptian artefacts from abroad. So far he has helped Egypt reclaim some 31,000 relics from other countries. Hawass continues to pursue high profile antiquities from major foreign museums, including the Rosetta Stone, which is held by the British Museum (see our recent Bloggers Challenge for some opinions on this contentious subject), and the Bust of Nefertiti, which is currently on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.

During the signing agreement with the Swiss, Frank Rhli of the University of Zurich the same anatomy expert who last year mummified a human leg using the same salt drying process applied by the ancient Egyptians returned the toe of Akhenaten to the Egyptians, in what was presumably a symbolic gesture (seems an otherwise inappropriate moment to be handing over a centuries-old body part). The 3,300-year-old digit belongs to the skeleton discovered in KV55, which according to a recent study on King Tut‘s DNA, is the young pharaoh’s biological father, most likely the ‘heretic pharaoh’ Akhenaten. The toe is to be displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

What value do replicas hold? The many answers

Gates of Paradise, Lorenzo Ghiberti's baptistry doorsThe results of the ‘What value do replicas hold?’ Heritage Key survey are in!Everybody agrees that a replica – regardless of how real it looks – can only ever be a duplicate. Yet the vast majority (79.28%) of those who took our ‘What value do replicas hold?’ survey see good use for these clones, in educations, research, protection from damage and saving on travel costs.

Replica Valley of the Kings and King Tut’s Tomb:Worth a Visit?

The ‘Replica Valley of the Kings’ is hot news lately, with the SCAand the Getty Institute embarking on a joint effort to protect the tomb of King Tut by laser-scanning it with the aim of creating a Dolly-KV62 to herd the masses of tourists into. We were wondering, if this actually happens, would you still travel all the way to Egypt to visit this replica? The answer is a clear ‘njet’, with 79.28% saying a replica would not be worth the trouble. Of course, you could still visit the real Cairo Museum with a replica of the Rosetta Stone!

You might not want to visit the replica tombs, but the majority of respondents agree that permanently closing heritage sites to tourists is justified to protect and/or research them. 44% say both reasons are valid, while a smaller group, 33%, think that only protecting them from damage is enough to close them.

I’m not aware of any evidence of specific cases but given my perceptions of human nature and the apparent value of some artefacts, I would suspect that many would be forgeries.

Though the majority of our survey-takers want to visit King Tut’s treasures at the Cairo museum, many agree that a visit to the Semmel replica exhibition ‘Tutankhamun – His Tombs and his Treasures’ can be worthwhile too – especially if it means a huge discount on the travel budget. 18.52% actually prefer the Semmel exhibition over a journey to Cairo!

The Best Replica in the world…?

Opinions are much divided on which is the best replica out there, but an honourable mention must go to the Rosetta Stone – of which replicas were most often encountered in the Cairo Museum, the basement of the British Museum and Saudi Arabia. The survey’s most popular replicas are the reconstructions of entire tombs and villages, such as the Tomb of Tutmosis III in Edinburgh, incredibly well-executed replicas of Lascaux and other cave dwellings containing rock paintings, the Arbeia Roman Fort’s gateway in South Shields and ‘restored’ sections of the Minoan palace complex at Knossos.

Everybody acknowledges that certain parts of buildings and sites should sometimes be evacuated for protection. In this case replicas are well and truly allowed. The Caryatids at the Erechtheum Temple on the Acropolis is a great example of such a situation. The originals were removed to protect them from pollution and are, aside from oneLord Elgin took to the British Museum, still available to admire in the nearby Acropolis Museum.

Acropolis Erechtheum

The British Museum is leading in the ‘most replicas mentioned’ category (the Rosetta Stone, the Assyrian wall friezes, the Giant Gate) as well as being the home of most originals with replicas elsewhere: the Lycian Sarcophagus at Xanthos, Turkey (original in the BM), the Rosetta Stone in Cairo (original in the BM), the Sutton Hoo treasure (orginal in the BM). Coming in second is the Metropolitan Museum of Art with their Egyptian Tomb and Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Other must-see replicas include the cast of Trajan’s Column at the V&A Sculpture Gallery, the Roman watermill at the Museum of London, the Kouros statue at the Getty Museum (see fakes) and the Hominid Skulls at the Natural History Museum, London (those were fake?! I just visited it a few weeks ago, and didn’t notice).

A must-not-see, according to one of our fans, is “the horrible, badly labelled, poorly explained plastic mould of a hogback viking stone at the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow.”

Labelling your Replicas

Some respondents to our survey were convinced they’d never seen a replica in their life. Others opted for “Not sure, they are not always labeled” – which might account for the fact that 94.50% of them say museums should state or label which objects are ‘the real thing’ and which are replicas, reconstructions or the result of experimental archaeologymuch clearer.

Nefertiti and (other?) Fakes

Leiding Swiss historian Henri Stierlin believes the famous Bust of ‘Nofretete’ (held hostage?) at the Neues Museum is a copy, commissioned a century ago by ‘discoverer’ Ludwig Borchardt. Yet 83.16% of those who took the survey agree with Heritage Key writer Paula Veiga that the Nefertiti Bust is genuine.

Getty KourosThe ‘Fake of all Fakes’, according to our respondents, is the Turin Shroud, but the most interesting might be Getty’s ‘Statue of a Kouros’ mentioned above. Just like the Bust of Nefertiti, it’s fakeness is still debated fiercely to this day. The signage of the Getty Kouros ominously reads, “Greek, about 530 BC, or modern forgery.”

“I’m not aware of any evidence of specific cases but given my perceptions of human nature and the apparent value of some artefacts, I would suspect that many would be forgeries,” says one of our fans. Fakes &Forgeries curator Paul Denis agrees in a recent interview with Heritage Key.

Digital Modelling: a Tool to Preserve World Heritage

We’ve suggested accurate digital modeling as the best way to preserve a terminally decaying site (with excellent graffiti) like Pompeii. A reasonable 55.96% of respondents agree with us.

Many suggest extra measures that could be taken to slow down the decay (tourist education, limited public access, …) whilst mankind fine-tunes its preservation, excavation and recording techniques. Whilst ‘biodome! biodome!!!’ (or some other sort of cover) was a quite common answer to the question, one person is convinced we should “enjoy it while it lasts” and just keep on digging.

Agree? Don’t agree? Want to add some nuances or just share your opinion? Leave your reply to the ‘What value do replicas hold?’ survey , or join the discussion on replicas, fakes and forgeries on the Heritage Key discussion page.

Egypt Showdown with Berlin over Nefertiti Bust – Latest

The bust of Nefertiti, gyptisches Museum Berlin

Yesterday saw Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s Antiquities chief, travel to Berlin to discuss the future of the Bust of Nefertiti with the director of the Neues Museum, her current home (watch a slideshow about the move). Yet statements released by both parties today appear to disagree on what was to be said at the showdown.

The Bust of Nefertiti (or Nofretete in German) has long been in the crosshair of Dr Hawass’ quest to repatriate Egypt’s showcase artefacts. Yet despite her place as one of his ‘famous five’ targets, the Neues Museum insists no formal approach was to be made concerning her future: “Friederike Seyfried, director of the Egyptian Museum Berlin, will travel to Cairo for a first visit to talk with Zahi Hawass about common projects,” its statement reads.

“Borchardt did act unethically, with intent to deceive.” – Zahi Hawass

“There will be no negotiations about the restitution of Nefertiti’s bust,” the statement adds. “Documents about the division of finds of 1912 will be given to the Egyptian side.” This may have been news to Dr Hawass, however, whose blog yesterday listed little more than the arguments for Nefertiti’s return.

He writes that the bust’s discoverer, Ludwig Borchardt, deliberately mis-categorised it so that it could leave Egypt. Borchart is purported to have listed the bust as that of a princess, made in plaster – when in fact it is the limestone bust of Egypt’s most mysterious queen. “These materials confirm Egypts contention that Borchardt did act unethically, with intent to deceive,” Dr Hawass writes.

Dr Seyfried does not have the authority to permit any repatriation, but Dr Hawass is set to call a meeting of the National Committee for the Return of Stolen Artefacts later this week, when he will make a formal request for the bust’s return. Museum officials have remained coy on the artefact, insisting they would look at loan options only if no risk of damage was involved.

The Bust of Nefertiti is one of Ancient Egypt’s most enigmatic treasures. Some scholars believe her to be a fake, while others argue the famous bust is the real deal and has another, different face buried beneath her polychromed plaster facade. Dr Hawass has recently called for the return of the Rosetta Stone during a trip to London, and has repeatedly argued that the Dendera Zodiac should fly back to Egypt from Paris’ Louvre.

Why I Don’t Believe the Bust of Nefertiti is Fake

Nefertiti

Following all the doubt and controversy surrounding claims that the Bust of Nefertiti is a fake, I would like to present my case and say why I believe the bust, now housed in the Neues Museum in Berlin, is an original.

Let’s go back and look at the evidence, starting with a 2008 article in KMT magazine named ‘Why Nefertiti Went to Berlin’ written by Dr Rolf Krauss. The article includes some important transcripts and images. One photo shows Egyptologists looking at the bust of Nefertiti, held by an Egyptian workman, captioned: ‘The first presentation of the bust of Nefertiti following its discovery on December 6, 1912’.

On the next page it is stated that:

The excavation was paid for by James Simon, treasurer of the German Oriental Society, (DOG) with his own money. (…) He first loaned and then donated all of these objects to the Berlin Egyptian Museum in 1920;

El Amarna was under the authority of the Antiquities Inspectorate in Asyut, and the inspector there was Gustave Lefebvre (…) it thus fell to Lefebvre to divide the El Amarna finds.

The article goes on to quote from a letter from Bruno Gueterbock (secretary of DOG) to Guenther Roeder, (director Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum):

You can imagine that we all had very little hope that this wonderful piece would not go to Cairo, so little,that on the evening before Lefebvre’s arrival all the inhabitants of the excavation house walked in solemn procession, candle in hand, to the storeroom to bid our farewell to the colourful Queen.

Importantly, the article goes on to mention that when questioned a decade later, Lefebvre said he could not remember whether he had seen the bust or not. Stranger and stranger.

Why Does This Suggest That the Bust Isn’t Fake?

  • The bust was found in 1912 by Ludwig Borchardt and the occasion photographed
  • It did not look exactly like it does now at the Neues Museum, as it was still unclean
  • Lefebvre had to send the piece somewhere, and the piece did not stay in Cairo.

In May this year, Dietrich Wildung, curator of the Berlin’s Egyptian Museum, responded to accusations that the Bust of Nefertiti is a fake in Der Spiegel, saying: “We would not put an even remotely questionable object on display for 700,000 visitors to see every year.

Also, if the Nefertiti bust was a fake I am sure Dr. Hawass would not want it back in Egypt so much…

The Proof is in the CT Scan

Trying to scientifically prove if this piece is a fake we might take into consideration a CT scan carried out this year by researchers in Germany using a modern medical procedure to uncover the two faces of Nefertiti.

“…on the evening before Lefebvre’s arrival all the inhabitants of the excavation house walked in solemn procession, candle in hand, to the storeroom to bid our farewell to the colourful Queen.”

The hidden face differs slightly from the model we see, with creases at the corners of the mouth, and a bump on the nose of the inner stone version(meaning that Nefertiti lookalike Nileen Namita got it wrong).

Dr. Alexander Huppertz suggested that someone expressly ordered that these adjustments be made between the stone and the stucco versions in an article published in the April issue of Radiology. Pictures form the scanned images explain how afirst CT investigation was done in 1992, which was followedby a second in 2006, both intending to clarify the technology of fabrication. Siemens, together with Professor Dietrich Wildung, and the National Geographic Channel have scanned the bust for an investigation conducted for a National Geographic documentary.

The results, provided by the Siemens computer tomography (CT) system SOMATOM Sensation 64, display a different picture of the former Egyptian queen, in which she has a very different nose. In the National Geographic article Huppertz states:

CT [scans] impressively demonstrated that the inner core was not just an anonymous mold, but rather a skillfully rendered work of quality art… In the final stucco layer, Thutmose (the sculptor) smoothed over the creases and nose bump, possibly to reflect the “aesthetic ideals of the era.”

Going back to my ‘case’, if the sculptor did a bust almost identical to the real person in the core and then covered it with layers to adjust reality to art, and this is shown by the recent scans, we have to conclude that he has a real model, thus, the piece is an original.

Take Talatat!

Another scientific study compared the pigments present in the bust to those of contemporary architecture blocks – called talatats (such as the bricks found in the dismantled temple erected by Akhenaton in Karnak). The pigments were found to be identical, adding further proof to my case that the bust must have been made in the Amarna period of Egypt.

It is too fragile to travel, and maybe that is the main reason why it is not being loaned to Egypt as requested by Dr Zahi Hawass. But it is also a key treasure for the Neues Museum in Berlin, and one that they would be reluctant to lose. As science developments are swift nowadays, we can hope for more tests to be done that will prove that this is a real object from ancient Egypt.

“We acquired a lot of information on how the bust was manufactured more than 3,300 years ago by the royal sculptor,” said Huppertz, after the recent scanning. If a scientist is convinced the bust is real, I am too.