Pending a thorough examination's results, a German-Egyptian committee will be formed to see if the famous "Bust of Nefertiti" can be loaned to Egypt for a museum opening.
Agence France-Presse reported on November 19, 2007 that according to Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, German authorities in Berlin have proposed establishing a joint committee with those in Cairo to determine if the famous Bust of Nefertiti (18th Dynasty) can travel in two years for the opening of the Akhenaten Museum in Minya, Upper Egypt. Herman Panzinger, head of the German Archaeological Insitute, has indicated that the fragile statue is currently being studied to determine if it can be transported. Once the research's results have been reviewed, a dialogue with the Egyptians will commence.
German archaeologists, financed by wealthy textile manufacturer and philanthropist James Simon, discovered the painted limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti in 1911 and returned it to Berlin under a 1913 agreement with the Egyptian government. It is currently on display in Germany's Altes Museum. Nefertiti was the wife of the "heretic" pharaoh Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 B.C.), father of the boy-king Tutankhamun (r. 1332-1322 B.C.).
