![\"nefertiti](\"http:\/\/baidun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/top10_art_nefertiti-300x195.jpg\")
1.\u00a0Nefertiti’s Bust<\/strong><\/p>\nDuring a 1912 Egyptian excavation, German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt discovered the bust of Nefertiti, a 14th Century BC Egyptian queen. He claimed to have made an agreement with Egypt that stated his rights to half of the findings. His reasoning was his promise to the country that he would have the sculpture put on display. He held true to his promise, and has had\u00a0it on display in Berlin since 1923. However,\u00a0a new document suggests that Borchardt intentionally misled Egyptian authorities about Nefertiti, showing the bust in a poor light and lying about its composition in order to keep his most-prized find. Currently, the bust is still in the hands of German authority.<\/p>\n
Once again, Egyptian antiquity is at the heart of this tragic story.\u00a0It is thought\u00a0that grave robbers may have sold the body to a Canadian museum sometime in the 1860s – landing itself in the hands\u00a0of North American museums.\u00a0In 1999, Atlanta’s Michael Carlos Museum received the mummy and used carbon dating and CT scans to place the mummy to the era of Ramses I. Once confirmed, they offered to return the body to Egypt, where it is now housed at the Luxor Museum.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired the 2500-year-old krater \u2014 an ornate bowl used to combine water with wine \u2014 for $1 million in 1972 – one of the fine and few known examples of the ancient painter Euphronios. However, it had been purchased from Robert Hecht, whom is now on trial in Italy on charges of conspiring to deal in looted antiquities. For many years, the Met faced many angry European calls to return the bowl to where it was found, which was originally right outside of Rome. In 2008, after some negotiation, the krater was returned.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are many different takes and sides to this particular story. Some references take this jewel all the way back to 3200 B.C. to ancient Mesopotamia. It may have once been 793 carets, before a jeweler’s maladroitness and a few subsequent refinements chopped it to the mere 109-caret chunk it is today. What is known, however, is that The Moguls possessed it in the 16th Century, only to lose it to the Iranians, who then lost it to the Afghans, which ended up in the hands of the Sikhs, and eventually\u00a0to the\u00a0British. You could imagine the kinds of claims and calls the British are currently facing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This feud between\u00a0Paris’s Louvre Museum and the Egyptian government is fairly current.\u00a0Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s antiquities department, claims the Louvre bought the fragments last year despite knowing that they were initially taken from a tomb in Egypt’s storied Valley of the Kings in the 1980s.\u00a0A museum rep. claimed that the Louvre Museum\u00a0was unaware the fragments were initially stolen, and said they\u00a0would consider sending the fresco pieces back to Egypt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can you believe that 3 billion dollars each year fall into the hands of those plundering and trading art and\u00a0antiquities? Many of the battles still persist in the search for these hidden treasures. Here are\u00a0five treasures of the world and their stories. 1.\u00a0Nefertiti’s Bust During a 1912 Egyptian excavation, German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt discovered the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13,9],"tags":[6,5,10],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-world-history","tag-ancient-findings","tag-antiquities","tag-world-antiquities"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"ramses](\"http:\/\/baidun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/top10_art_ramses-300x195.jpg\")
2.\u00a0Ramses Mummy<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"euphronios](\"http:\/\/baidun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/top10_art_euphronios-300x195.jpg\")
3.\u00a0Euphronios Krater<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"kohinoor](\"http:\/\/baidun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/top10_art_kohinoor-300x195.jpg\")
4. Koh-i-Noor Diamond<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"louvre](\"http:\/\/baidun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/top10_art_louvre-300x195.jpg\")
5.\u00a0The Louvre’s Egyptian Frescos<\/strong><\/p>\n