The story of the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin

Bust of Nefertiti - an ancient sculpture depicting Nefertiti, the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. This bust is made of limestone and polychrome, dated 1345 B.C.E.  Author of the bust is probably the sculptor Thutmose, because the statue was found in his workshop.

A German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt was working in Amarna, Middle Egypt over 100 years ago when he found a beautiful, painted limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti.

The law at the time allowed archaeologists to take statues out of Egypt as l ong as they did not belong to royal figures. He officially registered the statute as a non royal statute made of gypsum.

He kept it in Germany for 10 years without showing it, but when he did, the Egyptians asked for it back. This was around the time of World War 2 and Adolf Hitler fell in love with the statue so refused to return it.

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Despite repeated requests to return it to Egypt, Nefertiti's busy remains on display in the Berlin Museum.

Nefertiti should go back as her existence in Germany is illegal since was smuggled as a gypsum piece of no royal relationship to ancient Egypt!