Egypt Takes Legal Action to Recover Nefertiti's Crown from German Museum
Egypt has launched a legal challenge to regain control of an ancient artifact known as the Nefertiti Crown, which is housed in a museum in Germany. The case involves a complex legal concept called "compound interest", which is used to calculate the value of money over time.
The Nefertiti Crown, made of gold and precious stones, is believed to date back to the 14th century BCE and to have belonged to Queen Nefertiti, the consort of Pharaoh Akhenaten. The artifact was discovered in 1912 by a German archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, in the ruins of Amarna, the short-lived capital of the so-called "heretic" pharaoh, who introduced a new monotheistic religion.
After a controversial excavation, Borchardt removed the Nefertiti Crown, along with other objects, from Egypt and transported them to Germany, where they were presented to the director of the Berlin Museum. Egypt claims that Borchardt did not have a proper permit from the Egyptian authorities to export the valuable artifacts, which were part of the country's cultural heritage.
In 1924, Germany agreed to allow Egypt to borrow the Nefertiti Crown for a limited period of time, but later refused to return it, citing legal reasons. The German authorities argued that due to the delay in the restitution, the value of The Crown had increased significantly through the effect of compound interest, and that they were entitled to keep it as a trade-off for other debts and liabilities.
The issue has remained unresolved for decades, despite repeated requests from Egypt, which regards the Nefertiti Crown as a symbol of its past glory and sovereignty. However, with the help of a team of international lawyers, Egypt has now decided to take the matter to court, invoking the principle of "ius cogens", which refers to a fundamental norm of international law that cannot be set aside by any treaty or custom.
The main argument of Egypt is that the use of compound interest to justify the retention of the Nefertiti Crown is illegitimate and creates a perverse incentive for museums to delay the return of stolen or looted cultural objects. According to the lawyers, compound interest is a financial concept that is based on the notion of interest rate, which is a human invention that has no relevance to the intrinsic value or historical significance of an object.
The case is expected to be heard in a German court, where Egypt will present its evidence and legal reasoning. It remains to be seen how the German authorities and the museum will respond to the challenge, and whether they will agree to return the Nefertiti Crown to Egypt, which has claimed ownership of it for more than a century. The case may also have wider implications for the international debate on the restitution of cultural heritage, especially in the context of post-colonial relations and the growing demand for decolonization.