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00:01It's the 16th of October 2009.
00:04In the east of Berlin, the newly restored Neuer's Museum is about to reopen.
00:09The museum houses the finest collection of Egyptian artifacts in Germany.
00:13But the biggest draw is the arrival of one of Egypt's most famous queens.
00:18The bust of Nefertiti.
00:22It's a masterpiece that had been on display in the old museum in Berlin for 20 years.
00:27Now, Nefertiti is moving homes to become the star attraction in the Neuer's Museum.
00:35I think it's an absolute masterpiece and certainly timeless.
00:42It really is perfection and full of aesthetic value.
00:46One sees the perfect beauty.
00:48Where does it come from?
00:53The life made her a star.
00:57It's a little like the Mona Lisa.
00:58Mona Lisa.
01:00It is the icon of the Egyptian identity.
01:06Nefertiti is over 3,000 years old.
01:09Tremendous care is taken to ensure no damage is done to the flawless face.
01:14That she is in such good condition is one of the enigmas in the history of archaeological discoveries.
01:22But the party is spoilt by some news from Geneva that is widely reported in the media that the bust
01:28of Nefertiti is a fake.
01:31The controversial claim comes after a 20 year long inquiry conducted by author and historian Henri Sterlin.
01:39I have no doubt in my mind that this is a fake, a copy, a phony or a model.
01:48What first made the academic suspicious was the exceptional state of conservation of Nefertiti's bust when it was discovered.
01:55The object was incongruous. It bore no resemblance to any other 3,300 year old busts from Egypt.
02:05To historian Henri Sterlin, the bust of Nefertiti is simply too well preserved, or as he puts it, too new
02:12to be true.
02:14Then there is a second bust found lying alongside that of Nefertiti.
02:19It's a bust of her husband, the pharaoh Akhenaton, and it's completely disfigured.
02:25Why should there be such a difference in the condition of the busts, which were found at the same time,
02:30at the same place?
02:35So is Nefertiti a fake?
02:41In Montpellier in southern France, archaeologist and Egyptologist Marc Gabold, who is also an expert on Nefertiti, considers Sterlin's claims.
02:53I have to say, he was right to ask the question, but the arguments he's provided aren't necessarily sufficient.
03:01If he can give me some strong scientific arguments that it is a forgery, then I would accept it.
03:07There are certainly some doubts.
03:12In the basements of the Neuer's Museum in Berlin, a news conference is being held.
03:17The journalists are taking notes, but there are no questions about the charges of authenticity.
03:24In Germany, such accusations are considered taboo.
03:28Because the bust, discovered a century ago in Egypt by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, has now become a symbol in
03:35Germany.
03:37Nevertheless, we did ask the question to Neuer's Museum director, Frederike Seyfried.
03:44When you stand before the bust, the question never even enters your mind.
03:49It goes without saying it's authentic.
03:52The real question is, why would it be a fake?
03:57Numerous archaeologists, Americans, Italians, French, have expressed their doubts about whether the bust is genuine.
04:03But none of them have made their doubts official.
04:05So we have decided to stage our own inquiry.
04:09You see, everyone's being very circumspect.
04:11No one has dared come right out and openly declare the object to be a fake.
04:18So is the most famous bust of ancient Egypt a phony?
04:22To find out, we met with the greatest experts, subjected the bust to a lie detector and retraced history.
04:29What we uncovered during our inquiry will forever change your opinion about Egypt's most mysterious queen and her likeness, the
04:37bust of Nefertiti.
04:47Who was Nefertiti?
04:49It's one of the great mysteries of Egypt's pharaonic past.
04:53Generations of archaeologists have scoured through all the monuments, gone through each hieroglyphic, on each column and temple wall, in
05:01an attempt to find the slightest evidence of her existence.
05:08Archaeologists went up the Nile as far as Karnak, searching one of the country's largest religious centers for any traces
05:14of Queen Nefertiti.
05:17In this labyrinth of columns and temples, they finally found the first image of the queen.
05:27It was chiseled directly into a stone from a now lost temple.
05:35But nothing is known of Nefertiti's origins.
05:39She was probably Egyptian, almost certainly the wife of the famous 18th dynasty pharaoh, the great Akhenaton.
05:51Nefertiti was the principal wife of Akhenaton.
05:54She was the only one who had the right to the title great spouse of the king.
05:59We know the queen's sisters and we know of her nurse.
06:03But we know nothing about the origins of Nefertiti's family.
06:07To be honest, I'd have to say we don't know.
06:09She's the queen of Egypt, of whom we have the most representations and documents, but also the one of whom
06:14we know the least.
06:18It's not known who Nefertiti's parents were, but what's striking is her remarkable beauty, with a face that at first
06:25appears so contemporary.
06:29It's thanks to her husband, Akhenaton, the heretic and rebel, that her name has survived.
06:35The pharaoh has gone down in history for having imposed Aton, the sun god, as the only deity and getting
06:42rid of the rest of the many Egyptian gods.
06:47During his reign in the 18th dynasty, Akhenaton has new temples built, many of them open to the skies,
06:53to allow the sun's beneficial rays to shine through.
06:57In his new religion, Akhenaton develops a cult of the personality, as he and the sun god gradually become the
07:05same being.
07:15Nefertiti and Akhenaton were also the most romantic of all the pharaonic couples.
07:22Their love for each other began at a very young age.
07:25On these statuaries, their age is given as 14.
07:28For the first time, the people witnessed two adolescents, masters of an empire, holding hands.
07:35They are portrayed as being very much in love.
07:39All the more astonishing are the images of the king and queen embracing.
07:45They are depicted on the royal chariot and Akhenaton is kissing Nefertiti.
07:49The queen is shown placing a necklace around the king's neck and he seizes the moment to give her a
07:55peck on the cheek.
07:56It's a very intimate moment and must reflect a true love story.
08:03In the seventh year of their reign, Akhenaton and Nefertiti relocate from Karnak and set up at Tel el-Amana,
08:10in the middle of the desert.
08:13There they build a new royal city they call Akhet Aton, which means the sun's horizon.
08:23The most famous couple in the history of Egypt lived in a modern city that was built quickly with space
08:29for 50,000 inhabitants.
08:31A city dotted with temples that had no roofs.
08:35Akhenaton and Nefertiti spend much of their time worshipping the sun god.
08:42But the reign of Akhenaton and Nefertiti will last only 17 years.
08:47After their deaths, their successors will destroy all trace of their existence and dismantle the palaces brick by brick.
08:55In less than 30 years, the city will disappear back into the desert.
09:08You might say it's the Pompeii of the sands.
09:12When you dig through the buildings from the 18th dynasty, the only time they were occupied was during the era
09:17of Akhenaton, so just over 15 years.
09:21And it gives one a real snapshot of life in Egypt back then.
09:28It was in this 5 by 10 kilometer rectangle of desert that on the 6th of December 1912, the bust
09:35of Nefertiti emerged whole from the middle of nowhere.
09:42Ludwig Borchardt was born in Berlin in 1863.
09:46He became the most famous archaeologist of his day.
09:49Egypt, its monuments and architecture fascinated Borchardt.
09:53In 1906, the German archaeologist organizes a dig in the remains of Akhenaton city.
10:00A ghost town, according to some, but the site of a terrible act of vandalism to the archaeologists.
10:07Borchardt is a real sleuth and is persuaded he'll make the discovery of the century.
10:10And on the 6th of December 1912, surrounded by his team, he will uncover the find of a lifetime.
10:17The celebrated bust of Nefertiti.
10:20The statuette carved from limestone was found just 50 centimeters below some gravel.
10:25Borchardt has resurrected a remarkably lifelike and technicolor queen.
10:32But how did archaeologist Borchardt make this masterpiece appear out of nowhere?
10:40Before the arrival of the German, Akhenaton's ancient city had been the virtual preserve of the British and their chief
10:47archaeologist, Sir Flinders Petrie,
10:49who had led major excavations on the site in 1891 and 1892.
10:55They had opened tombs, unearthed the magnificent frescoes of senior officials and uncovered the foundations of palaces.
11:03But they had never come across anything like the magnificent bust of Nefertiti.
11:07So when Borchardt's archaeological expedition showed up, it made the British sneer.
11:13They're convinced the German will find absolutely nothing.
11:17Flinders Petrie was already there.
11:19He stopped, I think, at the end of the 19th century working in Talal Amarna, and for him, he was
11:25through.
11:25He had the idea, it is done, and nobody has to, there's nothing to find anymore.
11:31But, I mean, as we know, this was not true.
11:36Borchardt, he came to Amarna initially because he saw it as a major source of information on domestic architecture.
11:46But at the back of his mind was the fact that he had close connections with the Berlin Museum,
11:52and he rather wanted something spectacular to bring back to Berlin.
12:00At the beginning of the 20th century, Egypt was the world's largest hunting ground for archaeologists.
12:07Prussia had lagged behind in the race for treasures.
12:10Kaiser William ordered Borchardt to return with a trophy, whatever the cost.
12:15Before excavations begin, the clever archaeologist seeks the advice of Cairo's leading antiquarians,
12:21many of whom do business with looters.
12:23He's told that part of Akhenaton's ancient city has yet to be excavated.
12:32Borchardt is also an architect, and before arriving, he'd drawn up floor plans for the southeast sector.
12:39Once inhabited by artisans, but untouched by both the British and the looters.
12:48He's interested in housing, so he starts by digging through the larger villas.
12:54These can be distinguished on the site by the small mounds.
12:57Later, he extends the dig to include all the houses.
13:01And by an extraordinary stroke of luck, he uncovers the offices and the house of the sculptor Thutmosis,
13:06one of the highlights of its excavations.
13:13Borchardt soon realizes he's come across a property that includes several sculptors' studios.
13:20Excited, the archaeologist decides to dig through every square inch of the gardens.
13:27And behind the silos, he identifies the house of the senior craftsman, Thutmosis, the personal sculptor of Akhenaton and Nefertiti.
13:35And it was here that Borchardt is said to have found the bust.
13:45Intrigued, we retrace the steps one century later of archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt and search out the house where the bust
13:51was discovered.
13:53Tell El Amarna is a five-hour drive south of Cairo, Akhenaton and Nefertiti's ghost town.
14:03Joining us is Luc Vettrin, an expert in ancient Egyptian works of art who is employed by the courts to
14:10identify forged pieces.
14:12Egyptian archaeologist Amada is the inspector general of the dig at Tell El Amarna.
14:17Well, here, as you can see, is Borchardt's report on the excavation.
14:21As you can see, this is the official report made after the excavation by Borchardt.
14:27There is not a lot of things which concern that.
14:31Luc Vettrin has an exceptional document, the notes and sketches of archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt,
14:37in which he writes extensively of his discovery of the bust in 1912.
14:43The document will prove invaluable in tracing the exact spot where Nefertiti's bust was uncovered.
14:57Look, Patrick, now we arrive to the house of Thutmose. This is a very important house, which we find, which
15:03Borchardt, in 6 December 1912, find the bust of Libertiti, which is now in Berlin Museum.
15:11This is what remains, 3,300 years later, of the studio of Thutmose, the chief sculptor.
15:17It's in one of these rooms at Borchardt, the German archaeologist reportedly found the bust.
15:24With a map, archaeologist Luc Vettrin interprets the site.
15:29This is quite moving, because this is the villa's reception room.
15:34It's almost certain that this is where the owner would have entertained his special guests, senior officials, and, why not,
15:41Queen Nefertiti herself.
15:43If you leave the room in that direction, here we get to the sculptor's studio.
15:49And behind the door, and Borchardt's notes are very precise about this, it's right here, in this corner, that he
15:56found the bust of the queen.
15:59So, according to Borchardt, Nefertiti was here, buried for more than 3,200 years, yet still so realistic.
16:07But that's not all, because the house of Akhenaten's senior sculptor turns out to be filled with treasures.
16:14Borchardt discovers other pieces, the finest collection of busts from the period, plaster masks, strangely lifelike, and models of studios
16:22like Akhenaten's.
16:25A model that's incomplete, and the famous bust of Akhenaten himself, found lying next to Nefertiti's.
16:31Ludwig Borchardt donates all his finest trophies to the museum in Berlin.
16:37But in all this archaeological fairytale, there's one detail that grabs the attention of a historian.
16:43It's an element that will spark an investigation worthy of a detective novel.
17:02In his colonial style house in Cairo, Ludwig Borchardt will take more than 10 years before he publishes the complete
17:09report on his digs at Tel Al-Amana.
17:13He tells how he found the limestone bust of Nefertiti, and another bust also in limestone found alongside of the
17:20pharaoh Akhenaten, its face ripped apart.
17:26In his topographical notes, Borchardt takes great care to note the location of the bust of Nefertiti.
17:32He also marked where the disfigured bust of Akhenaten had been found.
17:38According to his drawings, the bust of Nefertiti was on a shelf in a corner of the studio.
17:47The bust of Akhenaten was the first to be found on the floor near the entrance to the left.
17:55But the passage of time caused the outer wall to crumble and the bust of Nefertiti with it.
18:06Akhenaten's bust was found in several pieces, while strangely, Nefertiti's was intact, almost as if it had just left the
18:13sculptor's studio.
18:17The whole story was pure deception, made up by Borchardt.
18:21That was the conclusion of Swiss historian Henri Sterlin, who had investigated the case for 20 years.
18:27He questions Borchardt's report and concludes that Nefertiti was, quote, simply too beautiful to be authentic.
18:40How is it possible that such a heavy object, such a delicate object so finely painted,
18:48could have fallen, like Borchardt claims, from a shelf, about a meter and a half from the floor onto stones
18:55and rubble,
18:57without being damaged, especially since he claims it fell face down.
19:06And then he says it's such a delicate object.
19:09I mean, it's hardly possible that only the ears were damaged.
19:13And besides, the ears wouldn't even have hit the floor when the object fell.
19:20When his inquiry began in 1984, Henri Sterlin expressed his doubts to Dietrich Wildung,
19:26one of the greatest German archaeologists, and beyond all reproach, at the time, the director of the museum in Munich.
19:34Wildung had studied the bust for many years and shared Sterlin's doubts.
19:37He had written a letter to Sterlin.
19:44Well, in the letter that he wrote, he said, my project was valid and persuasive.
19:50And here, let me quote you word for word.
19:54He writes,
19:59In other words, convincing and coherent.
20:04In the letter, Dieter Wildung also admits to his own suspicions about the state of conservation of the Nefertiti bust,
20:10and that its style was not consistent with the Akhenaton period,
20:14and that he was even willing to write the introduction to his report.
20:19Then in 1989, he's named the curator of the bust of Nefertiti, and makes a dramatic U-turn.
20:27And then Wildung suddenly sends me another letter, in which he says he's been named the director of the Berlin
20:34Museum,
20:34where the Nefertiti bust is housed.
20:38And the whole issue has now taken on a different meaning,
20:42in that he was distancing himself from the inquiry, and therefore could no longer get involved.
20:50But to me, the most worrying thing was when two representatives came down from Berlin,
20:56to persuade me to stop my research.
21:04Historian Erich Sterlin is not someone who is easily intimidated,
21:08and will continue his relentless investigation, albeit now totally isolated.
21:14Fascinated by the story, we head back to Berlin for a meeting with Dietrich Wildung.
21:18On the eve of our interview, the archaeological expert decides to cancel.
21:23We call back, pretending we haven't received his message.
21:31Hello, Wildung here.
21:33Mr. Dietrich Wildung?
21:35Yes?
21:37I'm calling because we have a meeting arranged for tomorrow about Nefertiti.
21:41And I wanted to know what time we can get together.
21:45I sent an email out today, in which I absolutely refuse to talk about that object.
21:53Otherwise, I might have serious difficulties.
21:58We'll later learn that the German authorities have formally forbidden Herr Wildung
22:02to talk about Nefertiti's bust, or to mention Henri Sterlin's research.
22:17To the historian, the bust of Nefertiti was the result of an experiment.
22:23Borshat had a copy of the bust made, because he wanted to examine sculpting techniques on plaster,
22:28and in particular, how the Egyptians had used colour.
22:32In fact, he had at his disposal materials that had been found during the excavations at Tel el-Amana.
22:44He had everything on site.
22:48Well, you know, plaster is fairly easy to make, and it's impossible to date.
22:53And the stone it's made from is found all over Egypt.
22:56It's the country of limestone.
22:59You can use a large piece of limestone, and then make it the size you need.
23:05After that, you put the plaster on, and then let the sculptor do his work, and make a good copy.
23:13He had a great number of faces he could copy from authentic objects that had been found.
23:22Like this bust, an unfinished but authentic model of Nefertiti, which was also discovered in Thutmosis' studio.
23:31It has traces of carbon showing what still needed to be sculpted.
23:36Did Borchardt use a model like this one found on site, which he then had painted?
23:48Borchardt is very precise in his notes from the dig.
23:53He states he found large quantities of pigment, adding they were all still quite usable.
24:00But if this was an experimental copy, how is it Borchardt never spoke of it to his team, nor in
24:06his meticulous notes?
24:09According to the historian, on the 5th of December, 1912, the archaeologist was in Cairo.
24:15He learns that one of Germany's princely families is passing through, and wants to visit his archaeological digs.
24:22Caught unprepared, Borchardt rushes back to tell Al-Amana.
24:25He arrives on the 6th of December, 1912, which was meant to be a day off for his workers.
24:32He immediately sets them back to work.
24:40Later, he proudly shows their highnesses the fruits of his labor.
24:44In an excess of zeal, one of the dig foremen, an Egyptian called Senussi, disappears briefly during the visit, then
24:50returns with a bust of Nefertiti.
24:53The royals are delighted with such a masterpiece and a photograph immortalizes the moment, leaving Borchardt apparently no time to
25:00explain it was a copy and not the real thing.
25:05Henri Sterling claims the photo is what trapped the archaeologist.
25:16You couldn't just tell the royal visitors who were enthusing over the object, listen, you're mistaken, it's ridiculous.
25:23It would make a mockery of the royals.
25:25It was simply not possible to tell the truth, or the royals might have been covered in ridicule, and that
25:31would have been les majestés, or treason, which at the time was very serious indeed and could have ruined Borchardt's
25:38career and life for good.
25:43After the royals left, the bust mysteriously disappears for almost 11 years.
25:49Borchardt reportedly gave it to his sponsor, James Simon.
25:54It was the wealthy industrialist who had financed part of his expedition to Tel El Amarna.
26:00They were so excited, James, when he got the message that they'd found this beautiful figure, and it was, I'm
26:08sure, a great anticipation here in Berlin waiting for it to come back.
26:11And the bust sat on his coffee table, you know, for almost 10 years, sitting in his home.
26:19From 1912 to 1924, Borchardt systematically refuses to show the queen in public.
26:32At first, I didn't realize the missing eye was such an insult to her image and dignity.
26:42A one-eyed Nefertiti, definitely a crime of treason and sacrilege against the pharaonic image of the great queen of
26:49Egypt.
26:51To find out more, we visit the University of Liège in Belgium.
26:56There, Dimitri Laboury, one of the greatest specialists of the art and archaeology of ancient Egypt, gives us his expert
27:03opinion.
27:04It's a tool like an artist's dummy, a studio model used so the sculptor can reproduce faithful copies of the
27:14officially sanctioned image of Nefertiti that had been approved by Akhenaton and probably Nefertiti herself.
27:22The bust and many others like it were, says Professor Laboury, communication tools.
27:27The official portrait of the queen had to be instantly recognizable to the priests and the people in both upper
27:34and lower Egypt.
27:41As to the fact one eye was missing, according to the experts, that was purely another model to show the
27:47exact depth it was necessary to sculpt to correctly inlay Nefertiti's eyes.
27:55Dimitri Laboury says the royal bust was a typical studio model of the Akhenaton family style.
28:07If you look at Akhenaton's mouth and you look at the mouths of the Armanian princesses and you look at
28:14the mouth of Nefertiti's father-in-law, they're shaped differently but it's in the same sensual and aesthetical manner.
28:21The key argument in favor of the bust's authenticity has in fact been disproved by one of Germany's best Egyptologists,
28:28Rolf Krauss.
28:32What we know is that the bust was made according to a distinct set of proportions.
28:38Not just any proportions, but those of the Egyptian finger.
28:46In Britain and the USA, the foot and the inch are used in the measuring system.
28:51The Egyptians used the finger as a point of reference.
28:55To create a new bust, Akhenaton's sculptor is believed to have first drawn up a reference grid for sculptors all
29:01across Egypt.
29:03Each line was based on the width of a finger.
29:06The bust of Nefertiti had to correspond to these measurements.
29:12Rolf Krauss also proved how certain cross sections systematically corresponded to precise facial anatomical points.
29:20The base of the nose, for example, or the mouth.
29:22In this way, the length of the face would be calibrated with the base of the chin to the headdress.
29:30She's made based on a grid of proportions calculated on the Egyptian unit of measurement of 1.875 centimeters, the
29:37Egyptian finger.
29:40She's built metrically, but the counterfeiter at the time would have had to know how to use the Egyptian centimeter
29:46and not the modern one.
29:50The proportional grid would have allowed standardized production of the bust of Nefertiti across Egypt.
29:57Apparently, the forgers at the start of the 19th century were not aware of this.
30:02But there's yet another anomaly that is further proof the bust is a fake.
30:07The shoulders that are cut vertically.
30:12The arms on the bust were cut vertically, and apart from some very rare exceptions, it's just not something you
30:19see in Egyptian art.
30:21Busts are cut horizontally, at the level of the shoulders, and not vertically.
30:31Is the bust of Nefertiti, with its shoulders cut vertically, the only artwork of its kind in Egyptian history?
30:37To seek an answer, it's back to Berlin's Neuer's Museum.
30:42The director, Frau Seyfried, says there is one other example of a bust cut vertically.
30:49It's this one, also discovered by Borchardt in 1912, and part of a collection of objects that's never been put
30:56on public display.
30:58Upset at the scandal created by Sterland's book, Frau Seyfried rummaged through the entire storage of the museum to find
31:05the famous bust, or at least what's left of it.
31:09Yes, it is possible to see other examples of busts with cut shoulders vertically.
31:15This one is from the excavations at Tel El Amarna.
31:20You can still see the line that shows the central axis, and you can clearly see the shoulders cut like
31:26the coloured queens.
31:30So a second bust does exist with the same cut of the shoulders.
31:34In the spat between experts, is this a sufficiently strong argument to finally prove the authenticity of Queen Nefertiti?
31:45In Berlin, the Neuer's Museum, in an effort to put an end to the rumour mill, once and for all
31:50has decided to submit the bust of Nefertiti to a lie detector test.
31:55Can science finally prove it's genuine?
31:57The bust has been transferred to a hospital in Berlin to undergo a scan.
32:03What Nefertiti has in her brain may finally be revealed.
32:08The first observation is the bust is made up of a limestone lump.
32:12A lump covered in plaster, a method that allowed the sculptor or counterfeiter to change certain parts of the bust.
32:26It's proof Nefertiti was altered.
32:32Here you can clearly see the shoulder viewed from behind.
32:37The white part is limestone.
32:39What you see below it in grey is plaster, put on after the sculpture was finished.
32:45It's been added to make some corrections.
32:48And what's absolutely clear from the rear view is that the right shoulder is higher than the left one.
32:57Plaster had been used to correct and reinforce the curve of the neck of the limestone Nefertiti bust.
33:03And the sculptor had even altered the cheeks and cheekbones as well as the bridge of the nose by adding
33:09some plaster there too.
33:11Was this the world's first facelift?
33:16But other than some evidence of plaster surgery, what do the x-rays prove?
33:26The tomography isn't definitive proof.
33:30By cutting out samples from inside the object, you cannot prove when it was made.
33:37You can only state there's a stone interior.
33:40And that there's a layer of plaster that's been sculpted.
33:45But as to when, we just can't tell.
33:52I can't tell using this method that the bust is 3,300 years old.
34:01What about the plaster itself used to cover the limestone Nefertiti?
34:05Does it date from the time of Akhenaton?
34:09The Germans took a sample from the bust and had it analyzed by a chemist, a specialist in ancient Egyptian
34:15objects.
34:22Several elements were found in the sample of plaster that existed only in the Armanian period or a little earlier.
34:29The same as in the architecture and the masks, which means the plaster mix was an invention from that era.
34:36The composition of the plaster is typical from the Armana period.
34:43In other words, the plaster that covers the bust of Nefertiti is indeed of the type used by Egyptians more
34:50than 3,000 years ago.
34:53When the bust was discovered, they had no way of knowing what constituents were in the plaster.
34:59The technology that allows such analysis wasn't developed until the 1950s.
35:06A counterfeiter would have had no way of knowing the plaster's composition.
35:11He might, though, have used plaster found during the archaeological dig in 1912.
35:17For now, though, there's no way of being sure.
35:22There's one other scientific way to test Nefertiti's authenticity.
35:26The pigments, which make the bust so vivid, imitate skin color so accurately and make the mouth so sensual.
35:37Four colors dominate art in Egypt.
35:40Blue, green, ochre and yellow.
35:44Each dynasty's artists, however, had their own techniques to mix and use pigments.
35:54By analyzing the pigments found at Tel el-Amana, can the bust be finely authenticated?
36:02The analysis of the pigments showed us that the colors were indeed those used in ancient Egypt
36:08and that the technique of preparing the pigments were then abandoned during this period.
36:17Here, too, the forger could have cheated.
36:19Because, as you may remember, Borshat, when he discovered Nefertiti in the studio of Thutmosis,
36:26had also uncovered a treasure trove of pigments of all colors.
36:35There were yellows, reddish ochres, light ochres, and the renowned lapis lazuli blue.
36:46By the end of Akhenaton's reign, when the sculptors and artisans abandoned their studios in Tel el-Amana,
36:54they took with them only the more important things.
36:59A large part of their reserves of pigments, of course.
37:02But they would have left behind quite a few.
37:06Enough pigments, maybe, to decorate a queen.
37:10So is Nefertiti real or a fake?
37:14The experts have no doubt.
37:16All the scientific and historic tests are categorical.
37:20The materials are all authentic.
37:22But there remains one issue, a contradiction, a suspicion.
37:26None of the materials with which it's made allow the bust to be dated accurately.
37:31No technology exists that can date stone sculptures.
37:36The technicolor queen of eternal youth will therefore continue to defy science for years to come.
37:43And, like all the great ladies of history, conceal her age.
37:50In the early part of the 20th century, enthusiastic amateurs played at being explorers, following in the footsteps of the
37:57archaeologists.
37:58The discovery of the bust of Nefertiti by Ludwig Borchardt sparked a particular craze for all objects dating from the
38:05period of Akhenaton.
38:08Unfortunately, they were very rarely available, but it meant the forgers would be kept busy.
38:20At around this time in Cairo, a certain Emil Borchardt starts a lucrative business.
38:26He provides artists with genuine articles, which they then copy or use to make fakes.
38:35It's almost too easy, since at the time Borchardt was in charge of the shop at the Museum of Antiquities
38:41in Cairo.
38:44For a while, the museum would allow its staff members, particularly the restorers, to take some of the objects home
38:50with them, to study them, as it were.
38:56Some of the restorers became remarkably accomplished forgers.
39:00Today, their identity is largely unknown, apart from some rare photographs, such as this 1910 image of two known counterfeiters.
39:08One is Paolo Dingley from Malta.
39:11Variously a painter, sculptor and forger, Dingley exercised his skills at home.
39:17Curiously, Ludwig Borchardt was known to visit him on a regular basis.
39:25One of Borchardt's responsibilities was to act as a buyer for museums back in Germany.
39:34In those days, forgery was a flourishing business.
39:39So it was crucial not to buy the wrong things.
39:47There were many forgers back then, and today it's difficult to calculate how much.
39:51counterfeit stuff they produced.
39:54Yet the question remains about whether some museums are still displaying some of their fakes.
40:01There's not one museum anywhere in the world that doesn't have forgeries.
40:06The quality of some of the fakes was exceptionally high.
40:09And there are no guarantees that even the experts wouldn't be taken in.
40:16We all have something in stock that's a fake.
40:24Fakes that for the most part date back to the 1920s.
40:30Modern Cairo and its 16 million inhabitants.
40:34Are there still forgers as talented as the earlier generation in the city?
40:38To get the answer, we contacted one of them.
40:43Luc Vatrin, an archaeologist and an expert on forgeries, comes with us as we head out of Cairo towards Memphis.
40:56So we're going to Memphis, which is 25 kilometers south of Cairo.
41:03It's an area that has many studios where some of Egypt's best forgers live and work.
41:17It might be risky. We have to be careful, but by speaking Arabic, we should be able to win their
41:22trust fairly easily.
41:27The counterfeiters headquarters in the Cairo suburbs is at Mitrahine, a poor area where no tourist ever goes.
41:36To establish contact with the forgers, we pretend to be buyers acting on behalf of rich collectors.
41:44Mudir doesn't have his own studio yet. He works from home.
41:52At the moment, he's working with limestone.
41:55He suggests sculpting a small pharaoh's head in less than 10 minutes.
42:04You see how fast he is.
42:07Look at the technique he's using and the points of reference he uses.
42:14The limestone he's chosen is very soft.
42:17Using a simple rasp, Mudir completes his demonstration in just a few minutes.
42:25Then he soaks the sculpture in water to make the veins and the limestone stand out.
42:32The result is convincing.
42:34One can just imagine what this young forger could achieve over two months working in granite or other type of
42:39rock copying from an original work.
42:44It's good.
42:45Listen, ask him whether if I bring him an original work, he could make an exact copy of it.
42:56Yes, I can copy it.
42:58No problem. I can show you something I've done already.
43:00I can show you something I've done already.
43:05To convince us he would make a good supplier, Mudir shows us a bust in rose granite, which he's using
43:12to sharpen his skills and which he's copied just from a photograph.
43:18The stone Mudir is using is 3,000 years old.
43:21It would certainly fool the experts.
43:24But where does it come from?
43:26How can you get hold of stone that dates back to the time of the pharaohs?
43:30The answer lies a short distance from Mudir's house.
43:33These are the ruins of a temple that dates back to the time of Ramses II.
43:38It's not the only one.
43:39It's just part of the great temple of Path from the Ramses period.
43:44The site lies abandoned and unsupervised in the center of Mitrahina, an open-air mine for the forgers.
43:55The remains of ancient Egypt are there for the picking.
43:59In a few years, nothing will be left.
44:01Everything will have been pillaged.
44:04Just forgeries sculpted from the legs of Ramses II or in this column of hieroglyphics.
44:10These, at least, are genuine.
44:18Berlin, March 2011, 18 months after the opening of the Neuer's Museum.
44:26Visitors flock in their thousands to see the best ambassador Egypt has ever sent to Germany, Queen Nefertiti, the Germans'
44:34very own Mona Lisa.
44:37But on the far side of the Mediterranean, the latest success of the star exhibit at the Neuer's has stirred
44:43anger and renewed nationalist sentiments.
44:48At the end of the main gallery of Cairo's big museum, the most powerful man in the world of Egyptology
44:55has agreed to be interviewed in the hall dedicated to the great pharaoh Akhenaton and his wife Nefertiti.
45:01He doesn't mince his words.
45:05For almost two years, we studied everything until we have a proof that the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin was
45:15taken illegally out of Egypt.
45:20The bust of Nefertiti should be in this museum and not in Berlin.
45:26Did the Germans steal the bust of Nefertiti?
45:30Zahi Hawass has made a serious charge.
45:33At the start of the 20th century, the custom was that objects found during digs were equally divided between the
45:39archaeologists and the state of Egypt.
45:41But Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, says Ludwig Borshat cheated when it
45:50came to Nefertiti.
45:52In that time, there was a protocol that anything for kings and queens to be discovered at Amarna cannot leave
46:02Egypt.
46:05In January 1913, the Egyptian authorities asked a Frenchman, Gustav Lefebvre, to ensure the equal partition of Borshat's treasures.
46:16It was Lefebvre who decided to give Nefertiti to the Germans.
46:21Why did a Frenchman, of all people, agree to let the most beautiful statuette in Egyptian history leave for a
46:28Berlin museum?
46:34Here's the official version, according to the Germans.
46:38On the 17th of January 1913, Gustav Lefebvre leaves Cairo for Tell El Amarna.
46:45The excavations had already ended a month before.
46:49Every object the Germans had found had been inventoried, labelled and packed, ready to leave for the museum in Berlin.
46:57Ludwig Borshat is waiting for Lefebvre.
47:00The German is nervous, scared that the Frenchman might confiscate his prized possession, Queen Nefertiti.
47:12We know what happened that evening, thanks to Bruno Gutterbock, an eyewitness to the dividing of the spoils, and one
47:20of Borshat's colleagues.
47:22He described what happened in detail in a letter.
47:30So Gutterbock says the cases were opened and they looked through everything.
47:34I wasn't there and neither were you.
47:37So we can't say this is what really took place.
47:39But Gustav Lefebvre made his choices.
47:44On what basis did Lefebvre act?
47:46Why did he allow the Germans to take the bust of Nefertiti?
47:51According to eyewitness Gutterbock, Borshat outmaneuvered the younger Frenchman.
47:57He knew Lefebvre wasn't interested in sculptures, but was an expert in ancient writings.
48:07To stop Lefebvre rummaging through the case in which he had packed Nefertiti, Borshat shows him object number one.
48:15Which he says is his principal discovery.
48:19It's a colored stone tablet portraying Akhenaton and Nefertiti and the princesses.
48:26Lefebvre seizes the chance to study the hieroglyphic inscriptions.
48:33Still, according to the witness, Borshat produced only black and white photos of the sculptures.
48:42Busts of the princesses.
48:45And of course, that of Nefertiti.
48:49A majestic and royal portrait that it's unthinkable that Lefebvre wouldn't have realized that this object had to absolutely remain
48:56in Egypt.
49:04The scandal is revealed by Rolf Krauss.
49:06The former curator of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin decides to reveal the details of how the objects were shared.
49:14He claims Lefebvre never examined the contents of the packing cases.
49:19And that he was never shown the photo of Queen Nefertiti.
49:23But another photo instead.
49:31Guterbock wrote that Lefebvre had seen a bad photo of Nefertiti.
49:35One which showed only a part of the bust.
49:37The nose, the mouth and the eyes.
49:39But not the whole bust.
49:41But not the whole bust in the photo.
49:43And the photograph was dark.
49:46It was not clear. It was not colored like today.
49:49What Lefebvre allegedly saw then was a photo of Nefertiti without her royal headdress and necklace.
49:56Resembling a princess rather than a queen.
49:59Yet Lefebvre did have the possibility of better judging the pieces by taking them out of the traveling cases.
50:06That way he would have discovered the splendid bust of Nefertiti.
50:09Then Lefebvre was taken towards the cases, but he'd never asked for the objects to be taken out.
50:20He couldn't have known that among them was such a beautiful object.
50:28Borchard tried his best to hide the beauty of the statue and he took it out of Egypt illegally.
50:38Did Borchard trick Lefebvre by showing him an incomplete photo of the queen?
50:44Who cheated?
50:48Obviously Borchard.
50:51Archaeologist Rolf Krauss believes the bust of Nefertiti should be in a museum in Cairo.
50:56But definitive proof was still lacking.
50:59And we found it in this extraordinary document from 1913.
51:03It's the official list of how the finds from Borchard's excavations of 1912 were divided, written by Gustave Lefebvre.
51:12In the left-hand column are the things selected by Lefebvre for the Cairo Museum.
51:16Object number one, the renowned painted stone tablet representing Akhenaton and Queen Nefertiti playing with their daughters.
51:25In the right-hand column, among the items on their way to Berlin, object number one is listed as a
51:31bust.
51:32But it's not of a queen. It's a bust of a royal princess made of painted plaster.
51:40Queen Nefertiti, therefore, never officially existed in the most infamous sharing-out of spoils in Egypt's long history.
51:51Will she ever resume her place as queen in Egypt, leaving behind her only her royal shadow?
52:10PRACO
52:16He is a member of the only one who is inilitator.
52:17The author of the Royal Palace
52:17The Royal Palace
52:17Serm2
52:17The Royal Palace
52:17has spoken over to the Royal Palace