The Secretary General of Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities announced Sunday that he would formally request the return of the bust of Queen Nefertiti at the Berlin Museum, having received documents showing that the statue was illegally exported from Egypt.
Zahi Hawass said in a statement that the director of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin had presented documents showing that the German who had discovered the limestone bust of 3300 years had produced fraudulent documents to get him out of Egypt in 1913.
He said he had acted "dishonestly with intent to deceive." Mr. Hawass is holding a meeting this week to formally request the return of the bust.
The Secretary General of Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities is campaigning to recover the lost treasures of Egypt. Recently, fragments of frescoes were made by the Louvre to the Egyptian authorities