Egypt to hold talks over Nefertiti bust

By Marwa Awad

CAIRO Dec 2 (Reuters Life!) - Egypt, in a diplomatic tug-of-war with Germany over the bust of Queen Nefertiti, will hold talks this month to try to recover the 3,400-year-old pharaonic treasure Egypt says was smuggled out of the country.

Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told Reuters he will meet the director of the Egyptian Papyrus Collection at Berlin's Neues Museum, where the bust is on display, on December 20 to resolve the row over Nefertiti, the mother-in-law of boy king Tutankhamun.

With almond-shaped eyes and a swan-like neck, Nefertiti has caused a rift between the two countries, each intent on having the bust that attracts millions of visitors worldwide.

"The only thing we are going to discuss is whether the director has any legal papers to show that the bust of Nefertiti left Egypt legally," Hawass said. "All evidence that I collected till now shows the bust of Nefertiti left Egypt illegally."

Hawass' efforts to repatriate Nefertiti are among the priorities of a campaign for the return of pharaonic treasures including the Rosetta Stone, now in the British Museum, that Egypt says were plundered by a succession of foreign powers.

Hawass said the German museum official, Friederike Seyfried, was expected to present evidence that the bust was acquired legally. Egypt will show how the bust was taken from the country after being passed off as a less significant find, he said.

The German officials could not be reached for comment.

The bust of Nefertiti was found in Egypt in 1912 at Tell el-Amarna, the short-lived capital of the realm of Nefertiti's husband, the 18th dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten.