The mysteries of the Nefertiti bust

[Music] it's the 16th of October 2009 in the east of Berlin the newly restored Noah's museum is about to reopen the museum houses the finest collection of Egyptian artifacts in Germany but the biggest draw is the arrival of one of Egypt's most famous Queens the bust of Nefertiti it's a masterpiece that had been on display in the old museum in Berlin for 20 years now Nefertiti is moving homes to become the star attraction in the neues Museum I think it's an absolute masterpiece and certainly timeless it really is perfection and full of aesthetic value one sees the perfect beauty where does it come from is she Diddy's asuka's the life made her a star [ __ ] still easy attached so it's a little like the Mona Lisa morally sound it is the icon of the Egyptian identity Nefertiti is over 3,000 years old tremendous care is taken to ensure no damage is done to the flawless face the cheese in such good condition is one of the enigmas in the history of archaeological discoveries [Music] but the party is spoiled by some news from Geneva that is widely reported in the media that the bust of Nefertiti is a fake the controversial claim comes after a 20-year long inquiry conducted by author and historian Artie sterile on Lucas's I've no doubt in my mind that this is a fake a copy a phony or a model for more yoker dude what first made the academic suspicious was the exceptional state of conservation of Nefertiti's bust when it was discovered the object was incongruous it bore no resemblance to any other three thousand three hundred year old busts from egypt to historian re stella the bust of Nefertiti is simply too well-preserved or as he puts it too new to be true then there is a second bust found lying alongside that of Nefertiti it's a bust of her husband the Pharaoh Akhenaten and it's completely disfigured Why should there be such a difference in the condition of the busts which were found at the same time at the same place so is Nefertiti a fake in montpellier in southern France archaeologist and Egyptologist mock gabbled who is also an expert on Nefertiti considers sterile lands claims I have to say he was right to ask the question but the arguments he's provided aren't necessarily sufficient and even if he can give me some strong scientific arguments that it is a forgery then I would accept it there's certainly some doubts after him it in the basements of the neues Museum in Berlin a news conference is being held the journalists are taking notes but there are no questions about the charges of authenticity in Germany such accusations are considered taboo because the bust discovered a century ago in Egypt by german archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt has now become a symbol in Germany nevertheless we did ask a question to noise museum director Frederika Seyfried state when you stand before the past the question never even enters your mind it goes without saying it's authentic the real question is why would it be a thing I'm a felon numerous archaeologists Americans Italians French have expressed their doubts about whether the must is genuine but none of them have made their doubts official so we've decided to stage our own inquiry you see everyone's been very circumspect no one has dared come right out and openly declare the object to be a faithful [Music] so is the most famous bust of ancient Egypt of Foley to find out we met with the greatest experts subjected the bus to a lie detector and retraced history what we uncovered during our inquiry will forever change your opinion about Egypt's most mysterious Queen and her likeness the bust of Nefertiti [Music] who was Nefertiti it's one of the great mysteries of Egypt's pharaonic past generations of archaeologists have scoured through all the monuments gone through each hieroglyphic on each column and temple war in an attempt to find the slightest evidence of our existence archaeologists went up the Nile as far as Karnak searching one of the country's largest religious centers for any traces of Queen Nefertiti in this labyrinth of columns and temples they finally found the first image of the Queen [Music] it was chiseled directly into a stone from a now lost temple but nothing is known of Nefertiti's origins she was probably Egyptian almost certainly the wife of the famous 18th dynasty pharaoh the great Akhenaten [Music] Nefertiti was the principle wife of Akhenaten she was the only one who had the rights to the title great spouse of the king we know the Queen's sisters and we know of her nurse but we know nothing about the origins of Nefertiti's family to be honest I'd have to say we don't know she's the queen of Egypt of whom we have the most representations and documents but also the one with whom we know the least it's not known who Nefertiti's parents were but what's striking is her remarkable beauty with a face that at first appears so contemporary it's thanks to her husband Akhenaten for heretic and rebel that her name has survived the Pharaoh has gone down in history for having imposed at on the son God as the only deity and getting rid of the rest of the many Egyptian gods during his reign in the eighteenth dynasty Akhenaten has new temples built many of them open to the skies to allow the sun's beneficial rays to shine through in his new religion Akhenaten develops a cult of the personality as he and the Sun God gradually become the same being [Music] Nefertiti and Akhenaten were also the most romantic of all the pharaonic couples their love for each other began at a very young age on these statuaries their age has given us 14 for the first time the people witnessed to adolescents masters of an empire holding hands they're portrayed as being very much in love all the more astonishing and all the images of the king and queen embracing Sir William ya Kenna Tomas they are depicted on the royal chariot I cannot on is kissing Nefertiti the queen is shown placing a necklace around the Kings neck and he seizes the moment to give her a peck on the cheek it's a very intimate moment and must reflect a true love story decorum [Music] in the seventh year of their reign Akhenaten and Nefertiti relocate from Karnak and set up at tell el-amarna in the middle of the desert there they build a new royal city they call acket at on which means the sun's horizon the most famous couple in the history of Egypt lived in a modern city that was built quickly with space for 50,000 inhabitants a city dotted with temples that had no rules Akhenaten and Nefertiti spent much of their time worshiping the Sun God but the reign of Akhenaten and Nefertiti will last only seventeen years after their deaths their successors will destroy all trace of their existence and dismantled the palaces brick by brick in less than 30 years the city will disappear back into the desert Simca Putin you might say it's the Pompeii of the sands when you dig through the buildings from the 18th dynasty the only time they were occupied was during the era of Akhenaten so just over 15 years and it's on a real snapshot of life in Egypt back then well not enough stopping it don't over yet it was in this five by ten kilometer rectangle of desert that on the 6th of December 1912 the bust of Nefertiti emerged whole from the middle of nowhere Ludwig Borchardt was born in Berlin in 1863 he became the most famous archaeologist of his day Egypt its monuments and architecture fascinated borchardt in 1906 the german archaeologist organizes a dig in the remains of Akhenaten's city a ghost town according to some at the site of a terrible act of vandalism to the archeologists Borchardt is a real sleuth and is persuaded he'll make the discovery of the century and on the 6th of December 1912 surrounded by his team he will uncover the find of a lifetime celebrated bust of Nefertiti the statuette carved from limestone was found just fifty centimeters below some gravel Borchardt has resurrected a remarkably lifelike and Technicolor queen but how did archaeologists borchardt make this masterpiece appear out of nowhere before the arrival of the german Akhenaten's ancient city had been the virtual preserve of the British and their chief archaeologist sir Flinders Petrie who had led major excavations on the site in 1891 and 1892 they had open tombs unearth the Magnificent frescoes of senior officials and uncovered the foundations of palaces but they had never come across anything like the Magnificent bust of Nefertiti so when Bohr shuts archaeological expedition showed up it made the British sneer they're convinced the German will find absolutely nothing Flinders Petrie was already there he stopped I think at the end of the 19th century working Intel alarm honor and for him he was through he had the idea it is done and nobody has food there's nothing to find anymore but I mean as we know this was not true for Karki came to amana initially because he saw it as a major source of information on domestic architecture but at the back of his mind was the fact that he had close connections with the Berlin Museum and he rather wanted something spectacular to bring back to Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century Egypt was the world's largest hunting ground for archeologists Prussia had lagged behind in the race for treasures Kaiser William ordered borchardt to return with a trophy whatever the cost before excavations begin the clever archaeologist seeks the advice of Cairo's leading antiquarians many of whom do business with looters he's told that part of Akhenaten's ancient city has yet to be excavated [Music] borchardt is also an architect before arriving he drawn up floor plans for the southeast sector once inhabited by artisans but untouched by both the British and the looters [Music] etcetera dita he's interested in housing starts digging through the larger villas these can be distinguished on the site by the small mounds later he extends the dig to include all the house and by an extraordinary stroke of luck he uncovers the offices and the house of the sculptor Moses one of the highlights of its excavation I saw a beautiful borchardt soon realizes he's come across a property that includes several sculptors studios [Music] excited the archaeologist decides to dig through every square inch of the gardens and behind the silos he identifies the house of the senior craftsmen formosus the personal sculptor of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and it was here that Borchardt is said to have found the bust [Music] intrigued we retrace the steps one century later archaeologist Ludvig borchardt and search out the house where the bust was discovered tell el-amarna is a five hour drive south of Cairo I cannot on the Nefertiti's ghost town joining us is Luke Vuitton an expert in ancient Egyptian works of art who is employed by the courts to identify forged pieces Egyptian archaeologists Amada is the Inspector General of the dig at tell el-amarna well here as you can see is Borchardt report in exhibition see as you can see this is the official report made after the excavation by bo Chaddha [Music] look Vitara has an exceptional document the notes and sketches of archaeologists looked at Borchardt in which he writes extensively of his discovery of the bust in 1912 the document will prove invaluable in tracing the exact spot where Nefertiti's bust was uncovered look Patrick now we arrived to the house of Tatas this is very important house which we find this which word heart in 6 December 1912 find the basket this is what remains 3,300 years later of the studio of fat Moses the chief sculptor it's in one of these rooms at Borchardt the german archaeologist reportedly found the bust with a map archaeologists lukovitch ha interprets the site and all I think more this is quite moving because this is the villas reception room it's almost certain this is where the owner would have entertained his special guests senior official Queen Nefertiti herself and if you leave the room in that direction yeah we get to the sculptor studio and behind the door and Borchardt notes are very precise about this it's right here in this corner that he found the bust of the Queen so according to Borchardt Nefertiti was here buried for more than 3,200 years yet still so realistic but that's not all because the house of Akhenaten senior sculptor turns out to be filled with treasures Borgia discovers other pieces the finest collection of busts from the period plaster masks strangely lifelike and models of Studios like our inner tones a model that's incomplete and the famous bust of Akhenaten himself found lying next to Nefertiti's hood Vic Borchardt donates all his finest trophies to the Museum in Berlin but in all this archaeological fairy tale there's one detail that grabs the attention of a historian it's an element that will spark an investigation worthy of a detective novel [Music] in his colonial-style house in Cairo Ludwig Borchardt will take more than ten years before he publishes the complete report on his digs at tell el-amarna he tells how he found the limestone bust of Nefertiti and another bust also in limestone found alongside of the pharaoh akhenaten its face ripped apart in his topographical notes [ __ ] takes great care to note the location of the bust of Nefertiti he also marked where the disfigured must've Akhenaten had been found according to his drawings the bust of Nefertiti was on a shelf in a corner of the studio the bust of Akhenaten was the first to be found on the floor near the entrance to the left but the passage of time caused the outer wall to crumble and the bust of Nefertiti with it [Music] Akhenaten's bust was found in several pieces while strangely Nefertiti's was intact almost as if it had just left the sculptor studio the whole story was pure deception made up by bore shot that was the conclusion of Swiss historian artisteer Lam who had investigated the case for 20 years he questions bore shots report and concludes that Nefertiti was quote simply too beautiful to be authentic come on [ __ ] we've gone up juicy how's it possible that such a heavy object such a delicate objects a finely painted what could have fallen like four shot claims from a shelf about a meter and a half from the floor onto stones without being damaged especially since he claims it fell facedown first caught and then he says it's such a delicate object I mean it's hardly possible that only the ears were damaged and besides the ears wouldn't even have hit the floor when the object when his inquiry began in 1984 at least Ellen expressed his doubts to Dietrich fielding one of the greatest German archaeologists and beyond all reproach at the time the director of the Museum in Munich building had studied the bus for many years and shares dear lands doubts he had written a letter to still on those who were let Kimmy do well in the letter that he wrote he said my project was valid persuasive let me quote you word for word he writes Lucy Cooper Toyland in other words convincing and coherent in the letter dieter vildan also admits to his own suspicions about the state of conservation of the Nefertiti bust and that its style was not consistent with the Akhenaten period and that he was even willing to write the introduction to his report then in 1989 his name the curator of the bust of Nefertiti and makes a dramatic you turn suddenly sends me another letter in which he says he's been named the director of the Berlin museum where the Nefertiti Buster's house and the whole issue and that he was distancing himself from the inquiry and therefore could no longer get involved but to me the most worrying thing was when two representatives came down from Berlin to persuade me to stop my research than will discredit continuing my share the story on every Stalin is not someone who is easily intimidated and will continue his relentless investigation albeit now totally isolated fascinated by the story we head back to Berlin for a meeting with Dietrich fiddled on on the eve of our interview the archaeological expert decides to cancel we call back pretending we haven't received his message mr. Dietrich yes I'm calling because we have a meeting arranged for tomorrow about Nefertiti I wanted to know what time we can get together I sent an email out today in which I absolutely refuse to talk about that object otherwise I might have serious difficulties will later learn that the German authorities have formally forbidden air-filled them to talk about Nefertiti's bust or to mention our least air lands research to the historian the bust of Nefertiti was the result of an experiment [ __ ] had a copy of the bust made because he wanted to examine sculpting techniques on plaster and in particular how the Egyptians had used color in fact he had at his disposal materials that had been found during the excavations at tell el-amarna we had everything on site sure no blood you know plasters fairly easy to make and it's impossible to date and the stone it's made from is found all over Egypt it's the country of limestone we can use a large piece of limestone and then make it the size you need after that you put the plaster on and then let the sculpt to do his work and make a good copy he had a great number of faces he could copy from authentic objects that had been found to be teak like this bust an unfinished but authentic model of Nefertiti which was also discovered in third Moses's studio it has traces of carbon showing what still needed to be sculpted did Borgia use a model like this one found on site which he then had painted rocki Borchardt is very precise in his notes from the dick he states he found large quantities of pigments adding they were all still quite usable but if this was an experimental copy how is it bore shots never spoke of it to his team nor in his meticulous notes according to the historian on the 5th of December 1912 the archaeologist was in Cairo he learns that one of Germany's princely families is passing through and wants to visit his archeological digs caught unprepared Borchardt rushes back to tell el-amarna he arrives on the 6th of December 1912 which was meant to be a day off for his workers he immediately sets them back to work [Music] later he proudly shows their Highnesses the fruits of his labor in an excess of zeal one of the dick foremen an Egyptian called Sanusi disappears briefly during the visit then returns with a bust of Nefertiti the Royals are delighted with such a masterpiece and a photograph immortalizes the moment leaving Borchardt apparently no time to explain it was a copy and not the real thing at least their land claims the photo is what trapped the archaeologists [Music] you couldn't just tell that all visitors who are infusing over the object listen you're mistaken it's it's ridiculous it would make a mockery of the Royal it was simply not possible to tell the truth or the Rawls might have been covered in ridicule and that would have been leis Majesty or treason which at the time was very serious indeed and could have ruined borscht arts career and life for good after the Rawls left the bust mysteriously disappears for almost 11 years borchardt reportedly gave it to his sponsor James Simon it was the wealthy industrialist who had financed part of his expedition to tell el-amarna they were so excited James when he got the message that they'd found this beautiful figure and it was I'm sure a great anticipation here in Berlin waiting for it to come back and the bus sat on his coffee table you know for almost 10 years sitting in his home from 1912 to 1924 Borchardt systematically refuses to show the Queen in public [Music] with a bow from a tipper who you can't go at first I didn't realize the missing I was such an insult to her image and dignity through shorter simple clear song imagine a one-eyed Nefertiti definitely a crime of treason and sacrilege against the pharaonic image of the great queen of Egypt to find out more we visit the University of liège in Belgium there Dmitry LaBrie one of the greatest specialists of the art and archaeology of ancient Egypt gives us his expert opinion it's a tool like an artist dummy a studio monitor used so the sculptor can reproduce faithful copies of the officially sanctioned image of Nefertiti that had been approved by Akhenaten and probably Nefertiti herself the bust and many others like it were says professor library communication tools the official portrait of the Queen had to be instantly recognizable to the priests and the people in both upper and lower egypt as to the fact one eye was missing according to the experts that was purely another model to show the exact depth it was necessary to sculpt to correctly inlay Nefertiti's eyes Dimitry l'amore says the robust was a typical studio model of the Akhenaten family style [Music] if you look at Akhenaten's mouth and you look at the mouths of the Armani and the princesses and you look at the mouth of Nefertiti's father-in-law they're shaped differently but it's in the same sensual and aesthetical manner the key argument in favor of the bus authenticity has in fact been disproved by one of Germany's best Egyptologists Ralph Krauss escaped American what we know is that the bus was made according to a distinct set of proportions not just any proportions but those of the Egyptian finger Sunland Inc and Allah's malicious roster in Britain and the USA the foot and the inch are used in the measuring system the Egyptians used the finger as a point of reference to create a new buster a nut on sculptor is believed to have first drawn up a reference grid for sculptors all across Egypt each line was based on the width of a finger the bust of Nefertiti had to correspond to these measurements Roth Krauts also proved how certain cross sections systematically correspond to precise facial anatomical points the base of the nose for example of the mouth in this way the length of the face would be calibrated with the base of the chin to the headdress she's made based on a grid of proportions calculated on the Egyptian unit of measurement of one point eight seven five centimeters the Egyptian finger she's built metrically but the counterfeiter at the time would have had to know how to use the egyptian centimeter and not the modern one the proportional grid would have allowed standardized production of the bust of Nefertiti across Egypt apparently the forgers at the start of the 19th century were not aware of this but there's yet another anomaly that is further proof the bust as a fake the shoulders that are cut vertically the arms on the bust were cut vertically and apart from some very rare exceptions it's just not something you see in Egyptian art busts cut horizontally at the level of the shoulders and not vertically is the bust of Nefertiti with its shoulders cut vertically the only artwork of its kind in Egyptian history to seek an answer it's back to Berlin's noise museum the director Frau Seyfried says there is one other example of a bust cut vertically it's this one also discovered by Borchardt in 1912 and part of a collection of objects that's never been put on public display upset at the scandal created by stare lands book Frau Seyfried rummage through the entire storage of the museum to find the famous bust or at least what's left of it yes it is possible to see are there examples of bus with cut shoulders vertically this one is from the excavations at tell el-amarna you can still see the line that shows the central axis and you can clearly see the shoulders cut like the colored queens so a second bust does exist with the same cuts of the shoulders in the spat between experts is this a sufficiently strong argument to finally prove the authenticity of Queen Nefertiti in Berlin the neues museum in an effort put an end to the rumor mill once and for all has decided to submit the bust of Nefertiti to a lie-detector test can science finally prove it's genuine the bust has been transferred to a hospital in Berlin to undergo a scanned what Nefertiti has in her brain may finally be revealed the first observation is the bust is made up of a limestone lump a lump covered in the plaster a method that allowed the sculptor or counterfeiter to change certain parts of the bust [Music] it's proof Nefertiti was altered see here yeah you can clearly see the shoulder viewed from behind the white part is limestone what you see below it in gray is plaster put on after the skull holes finished it's been added to make some Corrections to it and what's absolutely clear from the rear view is that the right shoulder is higher than the left one plaster had been used to correct and reinforce the curve of the neck of the limestone Nefertiti bust and the sculptor had even altered the cheeks and cheekbones as well as the bridge of the nose by adding some plaster there too was this the world's first facelift [Music] but other than some evidence of plaster surgery what do the x-rays prove a tomography the tomography isn't definitive proof by cutting out samples from inside the object you cannot prove when it was made you can only states there's a stone interior there's a layer of plaster that's been sculpted as to when we just can't tell tell my cat forget it I can't tell using this method that the bust is 3,300 years old what about the plaster itself used to cover the limestone Nefertiti does it date from the time of Akhenaten the Germans took a sample from the Basten had it analyzed by a chemist a specialist in ancient Egyptian objects [Music] that is a stroke even awesome several elements were found in the sample of plaster that existed only in the armand yin period or a little earlier the same as in the architecture and the masks which means the plaster mix was an invention from that era the composition of the plaster is typical from the Amarna period in other words the plaster that covers the bust of Nefertiti is indeed of the type used by Egyptians more than three thousand years ago when the bust was discovered they had no way of knowing what constituents were in the plaster the technology that allows such analysis wasn't developed until the 1950s a counterfeiter would have had no way of knowing the plasters composition he might though have used plaster found during the archeological dig in 1912 for now though there's no way of being sure there's one other scientific way to test Nefertiti's authenticity for pigments which make the busts so vivid imitate skin color so accurately and make the mouth so sensual four colors dominate art in Egypt blue green ochre and yellow each dynasties artists however had their own techniques to mix and use pigments by analyzing the pigments found at tell el-amarna can the bus to be finally authenticated foodie pigment Oh as artists ORS the analysis of the pigments showed us that the colors were indeed those used in ancient Egypt deal and that the technique of preparing the pigments with an abandoned during this period warm here to the forger could have cheated because as you may remember [ __ ] when he discovered Nefertiti in the studio of thirty Moses had also uncovered a treasure trove of pigments of all colors [Music] there were yellows reddish ochres light ochres and the renowned lapis lazuli blue ice-t hunt back up by the end of Akhenaten's reign the sculptors and artisan band and their studios in tell el-amarna they took with them only the more important things knowing house didn't there's a large part of their reserves of pigments of course but they would have left behind quite a few enough pigments maybe to decorate a queen so is Nefertiti real or a fake the experts have no doubt all the scientific and historic tests are categorical the materials are all authentic but there remains one issue a contradiction a suspicion none of the materials with which it's made allow the bust to be dated accurately no technology exists that contain stone sculptures the Technicolor queen of eternal youth will therefore continue to defy science for years to come and like all the great ladies of history conceal her age in the early part of the 20th century enthusiastic amateurs played at being explorers following in the footsteps of the archaeologists the discovery of the bust of Nefertiti by Ludwig Borchardt sparked a particular craze for all objects dating from the period of Akhenaten [Music] unfortunately they were very rarely available but it meant the forgers would be kept busy [Music] at around this time in Cairo a certain aiming brooch starts a lucrative business he provides artists with genuine articles which they then copy or use to make fakes [Music] it's almost too easy since at the time Brooke was in charge of the shop at the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo Berlin period for a while the museum would allow its staff members particularly the restorers to take some of the objects home with them to study them as it were some of the restorers became remarkably accomplished forgers today their identity is largely unknown apart from some rare photographs such as this 1910 image of two known counterfeiters one is Paulo Dingley from Malta variously a painter sculptor and forger Dingley exercised his skills at home curiously Ludwig Borchardt was known to visit him on a regular basis one of more shots responsibilities was to act as a buyer for museums back in Germany in some room that's in those days forgery was a flourishing business so it was crucial not to buy the wrong things off sits Deardon and watches a Milan right of emitted there were many forgers back then and today it's difficult to calculate how much counterfeit stuff they produced yet the question remains about whether some museums are still displaying some of their fakes escaped cane was your mouth David that's there's not one Museum anywhere in the world that doesn't have forgeries the quality of some of the fakes was exceptionally high and there are no guarantees that even the experts wouldn't be taken in we all have something in stock that in museums but it's keep it as feral fakes that for the most part date back to the 1920s modern Cairo and it's 16 million inhabitants are there still forgers as talented as the earlier generation in the city to get the answer we contacted one of them luke vaca an archaeologist and an expert on forgeries comes with us as we head out of Cairo towards Memphis so we're going to Memphis which is 25 kilometers south of Cairo it's an area that has many studios where some of Egypt's best forgers live work it might be risky and we have to be careful but by speaking Arabic we should be able to win their trust fairly easily I still in conferences here people the counterfeiters headquarters in the Cairo suburbs is at meats rohini a poor area where no tourists ever goes to establish contact for the forgers we pretend to be buyers acting on behalf of rich collectors Madea doesn't have his own studio yet he works from home at the moment he's working with limestone he suggests sculpting a small pharaoh's head in less than 10 minutes [Applause] you see how fast it is look at the technique is using and the points of reference he uses the limestone he's chosen is very soft using a simple rasp moodier completes his demonstration in just a few minutes [Applause] then he soaks the sculpture in water to make the veins and the limestone stand out the result is convincing one can just imagine what this young forger could achieve over two months working in granite or other type of rock copying from an original work that's good isn't asking whether if I bring him an original work you could make an exact copy of it yes I can copy it no problem I can show you something I've done already to convince us he would make a good supplier mudiay shows us a bust in rose granite which he's using to sharpen his skills and which he's copied just from a photograph the stone Medea is using is 3,000 years old it would certainly fool the experts but where does it come from how can you get hold of stone that dates back to the time of the Pharaohs the answer lies a short distance from Moody's house these are the ruins of a temple that dates back to the time of ramses ii it's not the only one it's just part of the great temple of path from the ramses period the site lies abandoned and unsupervised in the center of Mithra hina an open-air mine for the forgers the remains of ancient Egypt are there for the picking in a few years nothing will be left everything will have been pillaged just forgeries sculpted from the legs of Ramses the second door in this column of hieroglyphics these at least are genuine Berlin March 2011 18 months after the opening of the noise museum visitors flock in their thousands to see the best ambassador Egypt has ever sent to Germany Queen Nefertiti the Germans very own Mona Lisa but on the far side of the Mediterranean the latest success of the star exhibit at the neues has stirred anger and renewed nationalist sentiments at the end of the main gallery of Cairo's big museum the most powerful man in the world of Egyptology has agreed to be interviewed in the hall dedicated to the great Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti he doesn't mince his words for almost two years we studied everything until we have a proof that the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin was taking illegally out of Egypt the bust of Nefertiti should be in this museum and not in Berlin did the Germans steal the bust of Nefertiti Zahi Hawass has made a serious charge at the start of the 20th century the custom was that objects found during digs were equally divided between the archaeologists and the state of Egypt but Zahi Hawass the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt says Ludwig Borchardt cheated when it came to Nefertiti in that time there was a protocol that anything for kings and queens to be discovered that Amarna cannot leave Egypt according to the Germans on the 17th of January 1913 the staff Lefevre leaves Cairo for tell el-amarna the excavations had already ended a month before every object the Germans had found had been inventoried labeled and packed ready to leave for the Museum in Berlin Ludwig Borchardt is waiting for Lefevre the German is nervous scared that the Frenchman might confiscate his prized possession Queen Nefertiti [Music] we know what happened that evening thanks to Bruna Goethe Bach an eyewitness to the dividing of the spoils and one of war shots colleagues he described what happened in detail in a letter so Goethe box says the cases were opened and they looked through everything I wasn't there and neither were you so we can't say this is what really took place but Gustav Lefevre made his choices in Kabul that Lefevre wouldn't have realized that this object had to absolutely remain in Egypt scandal is revealed by Rolf Krause the former curator of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin decides to reveal the details of how the objects were shared he claims Lefevre never examined the contents of the packing cases and that he was never shown the photo of Queen Nefertiti but another photo instead juda boxart lefeber pootabuck works the fav had seen a bad photo of Nefertiti one which showed only a part of the bus the nose the mouth and the eyes are not the whole bust of a nifty guns a booster in photo and the photograph was dark was looked clear it was not colored like today what lefeber allegedly saw then was a photo of Nefertiti without her royal headdress and necklace resembling a princess rather than a queen yet the fair did have the possibility of better judging the pieces by taking them out of the travelling cases that way he would have discovered the splendid bust of Nefertiti dunwood elephant in the smart seeing of the favor was taken towards the cases but he'd never asked for the objects to be taken out he not seeing laquanda used to listen couldn't know was such a beautiful object her heart tried his best to hide the beauty of the statue and he took it out of Egypt illegally did Borgia trick LaFave by showing him an incomplete photo of the Queen who cheated vidoe obviously bore shot archaeologist Rolf Krause believes the bust of Nefertiti should be in a museum in Cairo but definitive proof was still lacking

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Keywords: nefertiti bust documentary, nefertiti bust, nefertiti documentary, nefertiti documentary bbc, nefertiti bust fake, documentary 2019, documentary 2018, best documentary, queen nefertiti, egypt documentary, history documentary, documentary history, nefertiti documentary national geographic, nefertiti documentary in hindi, nefertiti mummy, nefertiti mummy queen mystery, نفرتيتي تمثال نصفي, نفرتيتي وثائقي, नेफ़रतिती बस्ट, नेफरेटी डॉक्यूमेंट्री, english documentary history

Id: D_dbSjJMS_Y

Length: 49min 19sec (2959 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2019

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