(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-19 10:42

CAIRO -- Germany is willing to consider whether an ancient Egyptian statue at the centre of a row between the two countries can be returned to Cairo for display, Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said on Sunday.

The bust of one of history's great beauties, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, is seen in this undated photo. [Agencies]

Berlin has proposed to set up a joint committee with Cairo to examine whether the controversial bust of Queen Nefertiti currently housed in Berlin's Altes Museum can safely make the trip to Egypt for display within two years, he said.

"The letter that we received from Berlin says that the statue is very fragile," and that a joint Egyptian-German committee should decide if it can travel in the next two years, Hawass said.

"The statue, in my opinion, is in good condition and should travel to Egypt within two years," Hawass said during a ceremony to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the German archeological institute in Egypt.

Cairo and Berlin have frequently clashed over the 3,400-year-old limestone bust, which was unearthed by German archaeologists on the banks of the Nile and taken to Germany under a 1913 agreement.

Nefertiti, renowned as one of history's great beauties, was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaton, remembered for having converted his kingdom to monotheism with the worship of one sun god, Aton.

Hawass, the director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, threatened earlier this year to ban future exhibitions of its ancient artefacts in Germany if Berlin refused to return the statue.

Herman Panzinger, head of the German archeological institute, meanwhile told AFP that research was now underway in Berlin to determine "if one can transport Nefertiti or not."

"When they have this result, they will discuss this with the Egyptians," he said.

Hawass wants to display Nefertiti at the opening of the Akhenaton Museum in Minya, Upper Egypt.