Nefertiti statue The Nefertiti statue is one of the most famous ancient Egyptian artifacts, a painted limestone bust dating back more than 3,300 years, carved by the Egyptian sculptor Thutmose around 1345 BC, of Queen Nefertiti, wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten. This statue made Nefertiti one of the most famous women of the ancient world, and an icon of feminine beauty. It was found by a German archaeological team led by Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt in Tell el-Amarna, Egypt, in 1912. The statue has been displayed in several locations in Germany since its discovery, including a salt mine in Merx-Kieselnbach, the Dahlem Museum in West Berlin, the Egyptian Museum in Charlottenburg and the Altes Museum in Berlin. Since 2009, the statue has been housed in the Neues Museum in Berlin. The bust of Nefertiti has become a cultural icon for Berlin as well as for ancient Egypt. It has also sparked a heated debate between Egypt and Germany over Egypt’s demand to return smuggled artifacts ...