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Friederike Seyfried, Director of the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, says: "The prediction made back in 1924 that 'the opening of this new hall will certainly revive interest in Egyptian art and especially in its portraits' has come true - and for 100 years of Amarna art in the Neues Museum, the colourful bust was and is the most beautiful ambassador."

Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK: "We have been in good dialogue with Egypt for years, participating in excavations on site and also working together on exhibitions, for example. Contrary to regular reports to the contrary, the Egyptian government has not demanded the return of the bust of Nefertiti - and there are no new documents that would cast doubt on the legality of its whereabouts in Berlin."

Renovations for the new permanent exhibition of the Egyptian Collection since 1918

The press at the time particularly praised the architectural achievement of the exhibition remodelling in the Neues Museum. Considerable interventions in the fabric of the building had been made for the redesign: In the Greek Courtyard, the apse was removed and a glass roof was installed, and smaller cabinets were built into the sides of the room. The room behind the Greek Courtyard was remodelled to accommodate the sarcophagi. A connecting corridor was created to the Egyptian Courtyard.

Planning for this remodelling had already begun in 1918, after the new building originally planned for the Egyptian Museum, a wing adjoining the Pergamon Museum to the south between the Neues Museum and Kupfergraben, had been postponed indefinitely due to financial problems. The glass roof over the Greek Courtyard was installed as early as 1919, but further work could not be continued until 1921. At the end of 1923, the architectural remodelling was completed and the new exhibition space could be occupied. The central aisle housed monumental sculptures, while the side cabinets were intended for the presentation of artefacts from the Amarna period.

The presentation of the Amarna artefacts in contemporary reports

The objects from the Amarna period came not only from the 1912/13 excavation, but also from earlier campaigns and acquisitions. They had been very limited since 1918 and had therefore only been presented in the rooms of the Egyptian Department in the Neues Museum.

The sensational special presentation of important finds from the 1912/1913 excavation campaign in the Neues Museum in the autumn of 1913 included objects from the part of the find attributed to Berlin as well as those belonging to the Egyptian side, all of which were returned to Cairo after the end of the exhibition. It caused "such a sensation in Berlin (...) that for several months crowds of visitors constantly streamed into the otherwise empty halls of our Egyptian Museum", as the Kölnische Zeitung newspaper recalled on 2 April 1924. After that, the Berlin artefacts were not exhibited for several years during the First World War. The new presentation in the former Greek Courtyard, now called the Amarna Courtyard, was therefore a major event that the press picked up on, albeit without paying particular attention to the colourful bust. In two articles, "the beauty" is not even mentioned, in others it is mentioned along with many other works of art: "These are our old favourites, some of which have already passed into all art histories, the delightfully lifelike portrait head of Queen Teje, the fanatical head of her son, the 'heretic king' Amenophis IV, and above all the charming image of her daughter-in-law, Queen Nefert-ete, the fine children's heads of the princesses, the plaster casts of the faces of living and dead dignitaries, the delicate limestone reliefs depicting the family life of the ruling couple in a very modern, bourgeois manner, (...) things that turn all our previous notions of Egyptian artistic practice on their head (...) - but all of it is immensely effective and only now blossoming to its full value", wrote the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Groß-Berlin edition, on 31 March 1924. March 1924.

The eight cabinets conceived for these objects were designed in the same form, each displaying - placed in the centre - a significant work of art. The colourful bust stood opposite a statue head of her husband in the second pair of cabinets - in a small display case that seemed very modest compared to today's presentation. Heinrich Schäfer reports in the Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orientgesellschaft, vol. 63, 1924, p. 32, that it "tends to captivate visitors the most with its cool, confident beauty", but at the same time emphasises that "as magnificent as this bust is, the inconspicuous plaster king's head opposite it can probably compete with this masterpiece as a work of art."

History of the find and gift to the museums

The bust of Nefertiti was found in Tell-el-Amarna in 1912 as part of a scientific excavation authorised by Egypt. Financed by the Berlin merchant and patron James Simon, the excavation of the German Oriental Society was led by Professor Dr Borchardt of the Imperial German Institute for Egyptian Antiquities.
The agreement with the Egyptian side provided from the outset for the then customary half-sharing of the find in return for the financing. Until the beginning of the 20th century, this system of sharing finds was a widespread procedure in return for the financing of an excavation. In order to ensure that both parties received equal shares of the excavation finds, it was agreed in advance that the archaeological team would divide the find into two equal halves with a precise listing of the objects.

The division of the find was carried out by the Egyptologist and responsible excavation commissioner Gustave Lefèbvre in January 1913. The opened boxes were ready for the objects to be examined. Photographs of the outstanding artefacts - including the bust of Nefertiti - were also available, which clearly reflected the beauty and quality of the objects. As representative of the Egyptian government, Lefèbvre selected one half of the artefacts; the other half subsequently went to Berlin.

As the sole financier of the excavation, the objects from the Amarna division became the property of James Simon. He initially kept the bust of Nefertiti in his villa in Tiergartenstraße. In 1920, Simon donated the bust and all the finds from the excavation to the Berlin museums.

Both the excavation and the division of the find have been extensively documented and published, for example in: Friederike Seyfried: Die Büste der Nofretete - Dokumentation des Fundes und der Fundteilung 1912/1913. in: Jahrbuch Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Vol. 46, 2010, ISSN 0342-0124, pp. 133-202 and catalogue for the 2012 exhibition, Im Licht von Amarna - 100 Jahre Fund der Nofretete, Berlin 2012.

Further information at:
https://www.smb.museum/museen-einrichtungen/aegyptisches-museum-und-papyrussammlung/sammeln-forschen/bueste-der-nofretete/der-fund-und-die-fundteilung/