Berlin 2024: Nefertiti on display for 100 years
For 100 years of Amarna art in the New Museum, the colorful bust was and is the most beautiful ambassador
Nefertiti is probably the most famous female bust in history - 100 years ago, the bust of Nefertiti was exhibited for the first time in the New Museum in Berlin (GERMAN)
BERLIN. Nefertiti (in german “Nofretete”, Egyptian Nfr.t-jy.tj, originally Nafteta) is probably the most famous female bust in history. It has been exhibited in Berlin for 100 years. The Berlin public was able to view the famous Egyptian woman in a museum setting for the first time on April 1, 1924. The permanent exhibition of the Egyptian collection began in the New Museum. In 1912, the colorful bust was found during an Egyptian-sanctioned scientific excavation in Tell-el-Amarna. During the international excavation, a so-called division of finds was then carried out; in this procedure, which was common at the time after joint excavations, Nefertiti was awarded to the German side. She came to Berlin in 1913. The financier of the excavations, James Simon - as the new owner - installed the bust in his villa on Tiergartenstrasse over the next few years. In 1920, Simon donated the bust and all the finds from the excavation to the Berlin museums. The first public, museum presentation took place in 1924 as part of the very first comprehensive exhibition of all museum objects from the Amarna period. During the World War years, all objects were relocated and were then exhibited for several decades in the West Berlin Egyptian Museum in Charlottenburg. Since 2009, Nefertiti has been back in the New Museum on the Museum Island in Berlin.
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| Anyone who walks through the museum drawing will be surprised at how close the bust of Nefertiti appears in their own 1 minute drawings, drawing with ballpoint pen: Helga Waess - 2024 |
The Egyptologist Dr. Friederike Seyfried, director of the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection since 2009, emphasized on the 100th anniversary:
“The prediction made 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 Amarna art in the New Museum was and is the most colorful Bust the most beautiful ambassador.”
The prehistorian Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) since 2008, said about Nefertiti's whereabouts in Berlin:
“We have been in good contact with Egypt for years, are involved in excavations on site and also work together on exhibitions, for example. Contrary to regular reports to the contrary, there is no demand from the Egyptian government for the bust of Nefertiti to be returned – nor are there any new documents that would cast doubt on the legality of its remaining in Berlin.”
New Museum on the Museum Island Berlin - Renovations for the new permanent exhibition of the Egyptian Collection since 1918
The exhibition renovation in the New Museum has been moving forward since 2018, because the redesign required significant interventions in the structure of the building:
In the so-called Greek Court, the apse was removed and a glass roof was installed (2019), smaller cabinets were installed on the side from 2021 (all intended for the presentation of the objects from the Amarna period) and the room behind the Greek Court was also used for the Recording of the sarcophagi redesigned. In addition, a connecting corridor was created to the Egyptian Court. Then finally in 2023 the work could be completed and the new exhibition space could be moved into.
If you haven't been there yet, you should definitely plan the Museum Island with the New Museum on your visit to Berlin.The presentation of the Amarna object in the media
“They are our old favorites, some of which have already passed into all art histories, the delightfully natural portrait head of Queen Teje, the fanatical enthusiastic head of her son, the 'heretic king' Amenhotep IV, and above all the lovely picture of her daughter-in-law, Queen Nefret -ete, the delicate children's heads of the princesses, the plaster casts of the faces of living and dead dignitaries, the delicate limestone reliefs that describe the family life of the ruling couple in a very modern, bourgeois way, (...) things that turn all our previous concepts of Egyptian artistic practice on their head (…) – but everything was set up extremely effectively and is only now blossoming to its full value,” wrote the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Greater Berlin edition, on March 31, 1924.
History of the find and gift to the museums - summarized
"The bust of Nefertiti was found in Tell-el-Amarna in 1912 as part of a scientific excavation approved by Egypt. Financed by the Berlin merchant and patron James Simon, the excavation was carried out by the German Orient Society by Professor Dr. Borchardt of the Imperial German Institute for Egyptian Antiquity studies.
From the beginning, the agreement with the Egyptian side provided for the then usual split of the finds in half in return for the financing. This system of sharing finds was a widespread practice until the beginning of the 20th century in return for financing 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 should divide the find into two equal halves, listing the objects in detail.
The division of the finds 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 were also available of the outstanding finds - including the bust of Nefertiti - which clearly reflected the beauty and quality of the objects. Lefèbvre chose one half to represent the Egyptian government; the other half subsequently went to Berlin.
As the sole financier of the excavation, the objects in the Amarna discovery became the property of James Simon. At first he kept the bust of Nefertiti in his villa on 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 finds are comprehensively documented and published, for example in:
- Friederike Seyfried: Die Büste der Nofretete – Dokumentation des Fundes und der Fundteilung 1912/1913. In: Jahrbuch Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Bd. 46, 2010, ISSN 0342-0124, S. 133–202 und Katalog zur Ausstellung 2012, Im Licht von Amarna – 100 Jahre Fund der Nofretete, Berlin 2012.
Published in German -
Friederike Seyfried: The bust of Nefertiti - documentation of the find and the division of the find in 1912/1913. In: Yearbook of Prussian Cultural Heritage. Vol. 46, 2010, ISSN 0342-0124, pp. 133-202 and catalog for the 2012 exhibition, In the light of Amarna - 100 years of the discovery of Nefertiti, Berlin 2012.
