Isn’t it ironic that as mobs surround the Egyptian Museum in Cairo Dr. Zahi Hawass is again demanding that the Neues Museum in Berlin return the famous bust of Nefertiti. Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Council of Antiquities claims that Ludwig Borchardt, the German archeologist who pilfered the statute in 1912, stole the bust by disguising it with clay. Neues Museum officials claim that Nefertiti was “legally” imported and that it’s now too fragile to move.

Nefertiti is currently the centerpiece of the recently remodeled Neues Museum’s fantastic display of looted Egyptian artifacts even though Hawass’ predecessors have been trying to recover the piece since 1930.