Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref) It seems that there is no
foreseeable resolution to the long conflict between Germany and
Egypt over ownership of the 3,400-year-old bust of Queen
Nefertiti, wife of the monotheistic pharaoh Akhenaten. Now, a
century after its discovery, the dispute over ownership is
stepping from one level to another, and with no concrete
solution in sight it has become one of the best-known
international cases of stolen antiquities that Egypt wants back.
The magnificent painted stucco and limestone bust of Nefertiti
was discovered in 1912 by an archaeological team led by German
Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt and sponsored by the German
Oriental Society (DOG), the treasurer of which was the German
Jewish wholesale merchant James Simon. The bust was unearthed
while the German team was excavating the workshop of the ancient
Egyptian court sculptor Tuthmosis in Akhenaten's capital city of
Al-Amarna.