Egypt's antiquities chief said in an interview that if persuasion does not work, he will fight for an ancient bust of Nefertiti now in a Berlin museum that Germany says is too fragile to loan to Egypt.
Zahi Hawass rattled the world's museums last week with requests to hand over masterpieces of ancient Egypt, including the Rosetta Stone -- some for loans, others permanently.
Hawass said in the interview on Wednesday that the goal was to display the pieces in two new museums, particularly the Grand Museum, which is opening in 2012 next to the Great Pyramids of Giza.
PHOTO: AP
But the bombastic archeologist -- known for the Indiana Jones-style hat he wears as he unveils new discoveries -- has met resistance from museums reluctant to part with their most prized artifacts.
"Some people say, `If we give this bust to Egypt for three months they will not return it,'" Hawass said, regarding the bust of Nefertiti. "I say: We are not the pirates of the Caribbean. We are in the 21st century, we have cooperation with all the countries [which] respect our work.''
At the top of his list of requests for loans are the famed 3,300-year-old bust of Nefertiti, the wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten, now at Berlin's Egyptian Museum, and the Rosetta Stone, a 760kg slab of black basalt with an inscription that was the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, at London's British Museum.
But Hawass said Egypt was seeking "unique artifacts" from at least 10 museums around the world, including the Louvre in Paris and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.
"We would like these 10 pieces to be at the opening of the Grand Museum in the year 2012 to invite everyone to show the whole world the cooperation between all of us," he said.
But while he touted cooperation, he also threatened that if Berlin rejects a loan, he will prove the bust was stolen and seek to bring it back to Egypt permanently.
"If Berlin will not agree to give us the loan, we will fight back to bring this bust for good," Hawass said.
Dietrich Wildung, head of Berlin's Egyptian Museum Berlin, said German officials have for years insisted the 3,000-year-old bust is too fragile to travel.
"The structure of Nefertiti's material, plaster over limestone, is very sensitive," he said.
"Our Egyptian colleagues know very well that Nefertiti will never leave Berlin for two reasons: Firstly, due to reasons of conservation ... Secondly, for security reasons. Given the current international political situation, it would be completely irresponsible to allow such a piece of art to travel such a far distance," Wildung said.
Hawass rebutted Berlin's assertions. saying: "I'm going to give them all the guarantees, insurance, transportation, guarantee completely that the bust will come safe."
Besides the Grand Museum, Egypt is also seeking pieces for the 2010 debut of the Atum Museum in the Nile Delta city of Meniya.
But it is not clear what Egypt can do to win even a temporary handover of the artifacts beyond public pressure. Hawass has sought UNESCO's help in retrieving them. Another recourse would be courts in the museum's countries -- but that would mean a costly legal battle whose outcome is uncertain.
The British Museum said on Thursday that it has received the letter from Hawass seeking a loan of the Rosetta Stone and that the request would go to the museum's trustees for consideration.
"We have received the letter ... and will consider it at the appropriate moment," said Hannah Boulton, a museum spokeswoman.
Boulton said the museum loans many objects but must take into consideration a number of factors including where the item is going, for how long, as well as its popularity and fitness for travel.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has fired his national police chief, who gained attention for leading the separate arrests of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on orders of the International Criminal Court and televangelist Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list for alleged child sex trafficking. Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin did not cite a reason for the removal of General Nicolas Torre as head of the 232,000-member national police force, a position he was appointed to by Marcos in May and which he would have held until 2027. He was replaced by another senior police general, Jose
STILL AFLOAT: Satellite images show that a Chinese ship damaged in a collision earlier this month was under repair on Hainan, but Beijing has not commented on the incident Australia, Canada and the Philippines on Wednesday deployed three warships and aircraft for drills against simulated aerial threats off a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese forces have used risky maneuvers to try to drive away Manila’s aircraft and ships. The Philippine military said the naval drills east of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) were concluded safely, and it did not mention any encounter with China’s coast guard, navy or suspected militia ships, which have been closely guarding the uninhabited fishing atoll off northwestern Philippines for years. Chinese officials did not immediately issue any comment on the naval drills, but they
POWER CONFLICT: The US president threatened to deploy National Guards in Baltimore. US media reports said he is also planning to station troops in Chicago US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to deploy National Guard troops to yet another Democratic stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore, as he seeks to expand his crackdown on crime and immigration. The Republican’s latest online rant about an “out of control, crime-ridden” city comes as Democratic state leaders — including Maryland Governor Wes Moore — line up to berate Trump on a high-profile political stage. Trump this month deployed the National Guard to the streets of Washington, in a widely criticized show of force the president said amounts to a federal takeover of US capital policing. The Guard began carrying
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight on several Russian power and energy facilities forced capacity reduction at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and set a fuel export terminal in Ust-Luga on fire, Russian officials said yesterday. A drone attack on the Kursk nuclear plant, not far from the border with Ukraine, damaged an auxiliary transformer and led to 50 percent reduction in the operating capacity at unit three of the plant, the plant’s press service said. There were no injuries and a fire sparked by the attack was promptly extinguished, the plant said. Radiation levels at the site and in the surrounding
RSS