Tag Archive
The Great Game: Archaeology and Politics in the Colonial Period
The Ruhr Museum in Essen in the west of Germany has now assembled a show entitled, The Great Game: Archaeology and Politics in the Colonial Period. It takes a look at the treasure-hunting era before archaeology settled down to become just another academic subject. Charlotte Truempler, head of the archaeology department of the new museum,... »
King Tut DNA tests results to be published this month
Image via Wikipedia Dr. Zahi Hawass will soon announce the results of a DNA study conducted on the mummy of King Tutankhamen. The tests are part of a larger ambitious program aimed at confirming the identity of the royal mummies and their familiar relations. It is believed that Tutankhamen is the son of Akhenaten, the pharaoh... »
Nefertiti “Summit” held at Cairo
Image via Wikipedia A meeting was held today at the offices of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, where Dr. Friederike Seyfried, Director of the Aegyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin, presented Dr. Hawass with copies of all of the key documentation held by the Berlin Museum concerning the discovery and removal from Egypt of the... »
Zahi Hawass states Egypt’s claim on the return of antiquities
Image via Wikipedia In truth, I had no desire to wade into this battle, but I told the media that Egypt is demanding the return of six individual antiquities, and that the real home of these artefacts is their native Egypt. These six antiquities are; the bust of Queen Nefertiti in Berlin’s Neues Museum, the... »
Will the Beautiful One Come home?
“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,” Zahi Hawass told journalists on a visit to Luxor. Hawass said the Berlin museum official “will bring evidence that the statue left Egypt... »
Ten reasons or ten excuses?
Image via Wikipedia An article in Heritage Key by Bija Knowles lists the “10 Reasons Why the Bust of Nefertiti Should Stay in the Neues Museum“. The title is not only enraging, but actually doesn’t do justice to its content, which presents favorable counter arguments on this polemic issue. Egypt is now an independent nation with... »
Hitler, Nazi Germany and Egyptology
University of British Columbia Professor Thomas Schneider is examining the history of German Egyptology during the Nazi era. Before Hitler’s rise to power Germany was a respected centre of Egyptology. The foreign affairs ministry financed an archaeological institute in Cairo that was used as a base to conduct scientific research. The country’s scholars had made important... »
Berlin’s Neues Museum announces re-opening
After more than 60 years in ruins, the Neues Museum (New Museum) on Berlin’s Museum Island is scheduled to re-open its doors on October 16, 2009. The re-opening completes the decade long, 200 million Euro restoration project, marking the third major milestone in the overall restoration of the five renowned museums that make up... »
The Beautiful has Come. Portrait Masterpieces from the Egyptian Museum of Berlin
23 June 2009 – 20 September 2009 The exhibits displayed at the exhibition were taken away from Germany in time of the Second World War and were kept in the State Hermitage until 1958; they were returned to the Egyptian Museum of Berlin the same year. Three sculptural heads from the workshop of Tuthmosis created in... »
Simon says…
Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife I have purposely not mentioned anything about the debate regarding the authenticity of the bust of Nefertiti, as this sort of superfluous information is, in my opinion, more intended to sell copy than to inquire for the truth. This article, however, has some very useful information about the statue and... »
