Egypt renews demands to retrieve Nefertiti bust from Germany
Egypt has repeatedly tried to retrieve Nefertiti’s bust from Germany, which Cairo claims was illegally smuggled out of the country when it was discovered more than 100 years ago.
CAIRO — The Egyptian government is trying to reclaim the bust of Queen Nefertiti from Germany, but the latter is refusing calls for returning the Pharaoh statue to Cairo. Meanwhile, Egypt has emphasized that it is taking all necessary measures to restitute Egyptian antiquities that were smuggled out of the country illegally, including Nefertiti’s bust.
German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt and his team had discovered the Nefertiti bust on Dec. 6, 1912, in what had been the workshop of sculptor Thutmose in Amarna in Minya governorate. Borchardt took the statue out of Egypt in 1913, in breach of the rules on the division of architectural finds at the time.
