A German expert will attend talks with Egyptian antiquities authorities next month to discuss Egypt's demand for the return of a 3500-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti
10 Kasım 2009 Salı 06:33
The director of the Egyptian antiquities department at the Berlin museum will come to Egypt on December 8 to discuss the right of Egyptians to the return of the statue of Nefertiti," Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, told AFP.
Hawass added that at the December meeting he would present evidence that proves the bust left Egypt through illegal channels.
"Our side will highlight documents showing the statue left in an illegal way, including ones that prove that in the allocation of antiquities discovered by a German team, (nothing) indicated the presence of a statue in the German share," he pointed out.
The bust of Nefertiti, the wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten, is currently on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin.
It was discovered in 1912 by the German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, who said he had Egyptian approval to take it. But, Egypt has been calling for its return since 1930.
Cairo maintains that Nefertiti was sneaked out of Egypt under a coating of clay and shipped to Germany
The director of the Egyptian antiquities department at the Berlin museum will come to Egypt on December 8 to discuss the right of Egyptians to the return of the statue of Nefertiti," Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, told AFP. 
