On our Barcelona to Berlin trip we are looking forward to visiting Berlin’s famous Museum Island, featuring several of not just Germany’s but the world’s best museums. The star attraction of one of these, the Neues Museum, is one of the most iconic images of feminine beauty ever created; the bust of Nefertiti. There are some great images and the full background story on the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin website.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this famous piece of art is the debate that has been ongoing for the past 99 years, since the bust of Nefertiti was first displayed to the public in 1924. The controversy is over whether the bust should remain in Germany or be returned to Egypt. Entire books have been written on this topic, and while scholars and public opinion would seem to favour its return, there are valid arguments for keeping it where it has been since discovered. (See, for instance, 10 Reasons Why the Bust of Nefertiti Should Stay in the Neues Museum.)
We’ve had some success with chatbot consultations recently, and decided to test the limits of AI (artificial intelligence) with the question of the return of the bust of Nefertiti. As you can read below, attempting to get an AI answer to this complex question was, well, a “bust”! It seems that AI-driven chatbots can spew out all sorts of facts and figures, but analysis, synthesis, and drawing conclusions is (for now) best done by humans. Could AI ever become sentient enough to draw these types of conclusions? A leading AI expert says:
Looking much further into the future, could those sci-fi storylines about artificial intelligence developing consciousness – becoming self-aware – come true? To Sutskever, the very idea of sentient AI is less a possibility than it is a provocation – often hyped by the media – that distracts us from how the technology is actually advancing. As he notes, in his typically understated way, “It’s an unlikely scenario.”
Ilya Sutskever in University of Toronto Magazine
Whether it’s by AI or humans, it seems unlikely that the debate over the location of this famous artifact is going to be resolved before we reach Berlin in July. So we are going to follow the advice of it’s discoverer, Ludwig Borchardt, who wrote in his excavation diary the succinct passage: “Description is useless, must be seen”. And right now that means a trip to Berlin!
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Hi! Is there anything I can answer for you?
Tell us about the bust of Nefertiti.
The Nefertiti Bust is a painted stucco-coated limestone sculpture of Nefertiti, the Great Royal Wife of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten. The work is believed to have been crafted by Thutmose because it was found in his workshop in Amarna, Egypt. The bust was discovered on 6 December 1912 by the German Oriental Company, led by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt. It is one of the most-copied works of ancient Egypt and has become a cultural symbol of Berlin as well as ancient Egypt. The bust has been kept at various locations in Germany since its discovery, including the cellar of a bank, a salt-mine in Merkers-Kieselbach, the Dahlem museum, the Egyptian Museum in Charlottenburg, and the Altes Museum.
The bust is tall and weighs about 20 kilograms. It is made of a limestone core covered with painted stucco layers. When the bust was first discovered, no quartz to represent the iris of the left eyeball was present as in the other eye, and none was found despite an intensive search and a then significant reward of £1000 being put up for information regarding its whereabouts. The French language book Le Buste de Nefertiti – une Imposture de l’Egyptologie? by Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin and the book Missing Link in Archaeology by Berlin author and historian Erdogan Ercivan both claimed that the bust was a modern fake, but these allegations are not generally accepted by scholars.
The bust has been the subject of an intense argument between Egypt and Germany over Egyptian demands for its repatriation, which began in 1924, once the bust was first displayed to the public. Since the official unveiling of the bust in Berlin in 1924, Egyptian authorities have demanded its return to Egypt. In 2016, a 3D scan of the bust was requested by the Egyptian Museum, which has been the subject of controversy regarding the ownership and cultural significance of the object. The bust has become “one of the most admired, and most copied, images from ancient Egypt”, and the star exhibit used to market Berlin’s museums. In 1930, the German press described the bust as their new monarch, personifying it as a queen.
Should the bust be returned to Egypt?
The question of whether the Nefertiti Bust should be returned to Egypt has been a contentious issue for many years. Egyptian authorities have demanded its return since it was first displayed to the public in 1924. However, the German government has consistently refused to return the bust, claiming that it was acquired legally and that it is an important cultural artifact that belongs to the German people.
Many scholars and activists believe that the bust should be returned to Egypt, arguing that it was likely smuggled out of the country without permission and that it represents an important part of Egypt’s cultural heritage. Others argue that the bust is now part of Germany’s cultural heritage and that returning it to Egypt would set a dangerous precedent for other objects held in museums around the world.
Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to return the Nefertiti Bust to Egypt is a complex one that involves balancing cultural, legal, and ethical considerations. While the bust remains in Germany for the time being, it is likely that the debate over its ownership and rightful home will continue for many years to come.
And what do you think?
As an AI language model, I don’t have personal opinions or beliefs. However, I can provide information and perspectives from various sources and points of view. The decision of whether or not to return the Nefertiti Bust to Egypt is a complex one, involving a variety of cultural, legal, and ethical considerations, and different people may have different opinions on the matter. Ultimately, it is up to legal authorities and cultural institutions to make a decision about whether to return the artifact or not.
What would you say popular opinion says?
While there is no one single “popular opinion” on the matter, there are many people who believe that the Nefertiti Bust should be returned to Egypt. This view is particularly widespread among Egyptian authorities and activists who argue that the bust is an important part of Egypt’s cultural heritage and that it was likely stolen or smuggled out of the country without permission. On the other hand, many people in Germany argue that the bust is now part of their own cultural heritage and that it should remain in Germany. Ultimately, the question of whether to return the bust to Egypt is a complex one that involves a variety of legal, cultural, and ethical considerations.
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