Seeking Bust’s Return, Egypt Cites Diary Entry

[Adsos Letter]

Source: The New York Times
Compiled by JULIE BLOOM

This is the article in its entirety; one paragraph:

Egypt has found new evidence to support its demand for the return of Queen Nefertiti’s bust, right, from Berlin, Bloomberg News reported. According to the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo the diary of the archaeologist who discovered the 3,500-year-old bust shows that he misled authorities when it was transferred abroad. In an e-mail statement the council said the diary of Ludwig Borchardt, who found the bust in 1912, showed he knew the head was of Queen Nefertiti but instead reported it as a “painted plaster bust of a princess.” The statement said, “These materials confirm Egypt’s contention that Borchardt did act unethically with the intent to deceive.” The diary was presented to Egypt by Friederike Seyfried, director of the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin, where the bust is on display at the Neues Museum. Egypt will formally ask for the return of the bust this week. Bernd Neumann, the German culture minister, has said that his country obtained the bust lawfully, and that Egypt had no grounds to seek its return.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/arts/design/21arts-SEEKINGBUSTS_BRF.html?scp=1&sq=bust&st=cse

[Bolo Boffin]

1. Uh-oh.

Fortuitous journal entry. This one may find its way back.