Will Nefertiti ever come home?

“I want to go home,” a phrase one encounters on many images, and even AI-generated animations, of Queen Nefertiti. Her heart-felt message, even digitally, carries resonance of a fraught debate that has long captured the world of antiquities.

In Egypt, Nefertiti is omnipresent. Her face is painted as street art, her likeness sold in miniature form in Cairo tourist shops, and displayed on tote bags and T-shirts in indie boutiques. Her replicas even proudly stand in the gift shop of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square.

The one place where her absence is glaring is the display plinth where her actual bust would stand. 

The bust belongs to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and has been exhibited at the Neues Museum in Berlin since 2009. 

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) opening ceremony in November revived discussions about her restitution, and expanded to other artifacts which were discovered in Egypt, but are now on display in museums across the Western world.

The Rosetta Stone for example, has been housed in the British Museum since 1802, while the Dendera Zodiac resides in the Louvre. 

Prominent figures like Egyptian archaeologist and former Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass are spearheading a petition to bring these three items home. Archaeologists and historians would also like to see them, Nefertiti especially, returned to Egypt. So, why isn’t she coming home? 

A queen, a bust, and a colonial bargain

Nefertiti was queen during Egypt’s 18th Dynasty around 1350 BC, and wife to Pharaoh Akhenaten. Their reign was defined by radical religious reforms, including the monotheistic worship of the sun god Aten. It was in their capital, Akhetaten (now Tell El-Amarna) that German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt unearthed the limestone bust in 1912.

At the time, Egypt was under British protectorate, and archaeological finds were governed by a system of division: foreign excavation teams and the host country would split discoveries. In 1913, the 3,400-year-old limestone bust was shipped to Berlin and started her life on stage in 1924.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Olivia Zorn presented a common argument for the fascination with Nefertiti in the West. “Back in the early 20th century, she already fit today’s modern ideal of beauty, with her high cheekbones and delicate features,” said Zorn, the deputy director of Berlin’s Neues Museum.

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which currently holds the bust, maintains that its acquisition was legal and documented. When Al Manassa inquired through email about the legitimacy of the foundation's ownership, they responded, “contracts from that period remain valid. The division of finds was carried out properly, as the records show, and is thoroughly documented.” 

The foundation also claims to have never received an official restitution request from the Egyptian government, and neither has the German foreign ministry, their email responses argued.

An official request, or a diplomatic denial?

Zahi Hawass disputes that claim. He insists that in 2011, while Minister for Antiquities, he had sent a formal request to both the German Foreign Ministry and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The foundation, in turn, deemed the request unofficial.

“The letter is not signed by the Prime Minister. There has been no official request for return from the Egyptian state,” the foundation said in a 2011 press release. The German Foreign Ministry echoed this, stating they had received no such request through official diplomatic channels.

Andreas Peschke, then-spokesperson for the ministry, noted that “it is not a formal request. A formal request is made between governments.”

Hawass, outraged by this dismissal, has consistently called the bust’s removal a theft. “Borchardt cheated. He put the bust in a box and never disclosed that it was her in the box!” he exclaimed.

Unique antiquities like Nefertiti were never meant to leave Egypt, he told Al Manassa. “Why else would he hide it for ten years in Germany before displaying it for the first time?” Hawass asks.

The colonial legal dilemma

Several German historians also challenge the rightful claim to the bust. Sebastian Conrad, author of a recent book on Nefertiti and professor for Global and Colonial History at Free University Berlin, argues that even if everything was done in accordance with the law of the time, one must ask who created that particular legal system, and under which condition did this law come into being. 

“The very fact that Egypt changed this law the moment it gained independence in 1922 suggests that it was created in the age of imperialism, when Egypt was de facto a British colony. Archaeologists who went on similar expeditions to Italy or Greece, were able to excavate artifacts as much as they please, but they were still not allowed to take their findings with them. So can we continue to credulously refer to this law,” he asks.

Another historian takes it even further.  Jürgen Zimmerer draws from the example of the German Nazi regime. “No one should invoke the law of the colonial powers of that time,” he argued in an interview with the German media outlet Spiegel. “We do not consider the expropriations carried out by the National Socialists to be legal, even though they were once valid law.”

“The scholarly evidence is clear: Nefertiti was stolen,” he affirms.

Interestingly, in 1933 shortly after the Nazis consolidated power, Egypt nearly succeeded getting Nefertiti's bust back. Hermann Göring, then-Reich Governor of Prussia, reportedly considered repatriating it to curry favor with King Fouad I, in search of rapprochement with Egypt.

But Adolf Hitler, allegedly enchanted by the queen, refused. He wanted to make her the centerpiece of the new German capital.

Campaigns and petitions, but to whom?

Attempts at restitution go back almost 100 years. Now, various initiatives continue to press for Nefertiti’s return. At the GEM, petitioners collected signatures from visitors. Notably, some petitions are directed not at Germany, but at the Egyptian Prime Minister.

Renowned archaeologist Monica Hanna leads the “Nefertiti Back Home” campaign, which urges PM Mostafa Madbouly to file a formal restitution request. In case of success however, they would want to see the queens’s head return “to its rightful place in the Atonian museum in Minya”, as stated on the website, and not the GEM.

Meanwhile, Zahi Hawass launched a separate petition in September 2024, demanding the return of not just the bust of Nefertiti, but also the Rosetta Stone and the Dendera Zodiac.

The petition asks "the Egyptian government to petition foreign governments for the return of the artifacts. There has to be enough public interest,” he writes. 240,000 have signed already. While the Egyptian president supports the movement, Hawass insisted to Al Manassa that the eventual request for repatriation wouldn’t come from the president, but rather from him "as a representative of the Egyptian people." 

This leaves open the question of whether the artifact’s current owners will view this petition as any more “official” than earlier efforts.

While the government has not recently commented, Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has spoken about Egyptians’ wish to reclaim the Rosetta Stone. He told The Times that “there are lots of voices in Egypt thinking we should argue for its return, as it is their right.” 

Interestringly, Khaled was happy about the thousands of artifacts the British Museum holds, as he believes “they belong to both” Britain and Egypt. The Rosetta Stone, however, is a different matter in his view, since the circumstances of its removal were unlike those of other treasures. “It was still war, it was not a normal transition and not even according to the law,” he said.

Empire, war, and the artifacts that stayed behind

The Rosetta Stone, among the most consequential artifacts in Egyptology and the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, was unearthed by Napoleon’s invading forces in 1799 in the Nile Delta. Following France’s defeat, it passed into British hands under the 1801 Treaty of Alexandria, and has been held by the British Museum in London since 1802.

“We have received no formal request from the Egyptian Government to repatriate the Rosetta Stone,” claimed the British Museum in response to an email inquiry by Al Manassa. The British Department of Culture provided a near-identical reply.

French authorities also gave a similar response about the Dendera Zodiac. “The Dendera Zodiac was not acquired illegally and, to the knowledge of the Musée du Louvre, has never been the subject of an official request for restitution by the Egyptian government,” a museum spokesperson said. Citing the 1970 UNESCO Convention, they argued restitution laws do not apply.

UNESCO’s framework does prohibit illegal transfers of cultural property, but only applies retroactively if both states had ratified the treaty at the time of the item’s removal. Egypt, France, and Germany have all ratified the convention, but its date of adoption effectively excludes most colonial-era acquisitions.

The 1995 UNIDROIT Convention was initially designed to address the blindspots of its 1970 predecessor, offering slightly more rigorous accountability measures for stolen property. However, it still is not enforceable retroactively. Certain domestic laws further entrench these barriers. For example, The British Museum Act of 1963 legally prohibits permanent restitution.

To whom do cultural treasures belong?

Given these constraints, some scholars are shifting the terms of the debate. Instead of asking who owns Nefertiti, they ask: to whom does she belong?

German historian Conrad also believes that diplomatic channels may not be the most promising route. “Take the Benin Bronzes. Germany returned them to Nigeria in 2022. However, it was not official demands which tipped the scales, but lengthy behind-the-scenes discussions between experts. Moreover, French PM Macron speech in which he announced returning Beninese artifacts held in France, put further pressure on the German side that it finally saw it in its own interest to return the statues. In the end, it couldn’t happen fast enough for then-Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.”

But Egypt’s case may prove different, according to some experts. “Only when public opinion in Germany changes will there be scope for return,” says Conrad. And while there is no official poll in Germany about Nefertiti’s rightful home, comments below articles of media outlets reveal it is complicated.

Contested heritage, contested identity

Some say, “Egypt, of course.” Others argue Berlin offers safer custody, pointing to museum lootings during Egypt’s 2011 uprising. A comment below an article of the Der Tagesspiegel reflects a recurring argument, “the Egypt from which Nefertiti comes no longer exists.” This notion is what scholars call “invented tradition.” Modern Egypt, for example, only started relating to pharaonic times around 150 years ago, argues Conrad. 

Some even question whether Egypt would possess many of these antiquities if not for foreign excavators. While this leans toward a colonialist logic, it remains a line of argument echoed in public forums.

One of the main arguments for Nefertiti’s home in Berlin refers to her being an ambassador of Egyptian culture abroad. Even former President Hosni Mubarak described her that way. Conrad doesn’t find this convincing, as if it were the case, she would be travelling to other countries as well. “And why don’t countries like Germany send famous works of art to Egypt to represent themselves?” 

The historian suggests another way of thinking. Although the bust of Nefertiti is 3,400 years old, it has only had a social life since 1924, and that life has largely been in Berlin. Wouldn’t that make her a Berliner? Some comments on social media see her that way. Ultimately, Conrad believes, “in an ideal world, a global icon like her should be seen everywhere, or return home.”

Repatriation as a long road home

The story of Nefertiti is just one of many thousands of Egyptian artifacts still housed in various Western museums. Egypt has recovered nearly 30,000 artifacts over the past ten years. In 2024, 172 pieces were successfully repatriated, and approximately 280 more came home in 2025.

But many prized antiquities remain abroad. Their return will require more than legal arguments, but shifts in public will, institutional culture, and international norms. “The idea of restitution of cultural property is much more nuanced and complex than people give it credit for. Each artifact needs to be thought of on an individual basis,” says Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo.

As for Nefertiti, Ikram also believes she should come home. She has seen the bust a few times herself in Berlin. “First time was when the wall came down in East Germany, then later in the Berlin Museum. I liked her best the first time I saw her. It was dramatic and very moving.”