A millionaire Berlin patron of the arts, James Simon, financed the 1912 excavation by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt. At the time, the usual practice was to divide the treasure with the Egyptian government. The finds were inventoried and Simon was allotted half - 5,500 pieces - which were shipped back to Berlin. He later donated the collection to his country.
During the years of its display in Berlin, the mesmerising sculpture of Nefertiti, though missing one eye, has come to be recognised as one of the most accomplished sculptures of a woman of all time. More than 1 million tourists see Nefertiti in Berlin in an average year.
The December 6, 1912 entry in the excavation notebook, to be shown next month, says, "Found: Life-sized bust of the queen. Colours as if painted yesterday. Outstanding work. Pointless to describe it: see it." Zahi Hawass, who was Egypt's antiquities chief under former president Hosni Mubarak, has repeatedly contended that, when the crates were opened and the hoard was divided, Borchardt's team placed the bust in an unflattering position so local officials would not fight to keep it in Egypt.
A century later, the allegation lingers, but will likely never be resolved. The Neues Museum, which flatly rejects demands to surrender the bust to Egypt, will display documents at the exhibition that it says proves it is the owner. Nowadays, Egypt and most other countries ban exports of cultural treasures, only allowing archaeologists to take images and samples.
The museum is hoping the centennial show will not trigger another flare-up in the dispute. Friederike Seyfried, director of the Egyptian Museum division of the Neues Museum, said this summer her contacts with Cairo archaeology officials under the new president, Mohammed Morsi, had been good, adding: "They are generally favourable to the exhibition." The prime novelty of the show will be the restored bust of King Akhenaten, Nefertiti's husband, by the same sculptor, Thutmose.
It was once as magnificent as Nefertiti's limestone and plaster bust: finely painted and partly gilded. After the king's death, opponents of Akhenaten's new religion, which prescribed belief in one god only, smashed the bust to bits. It was crudely re-assembled last century in Berlin, but has now been painstakingly restored. The exhibition, entitled In the Light of Amarna - 100 Years since Nefertiti's Excavation, was designed as a "walkthrough narrative space" by Irish architect Noel McCauley. Visitors will be able to browse in digitalized versions of the excavation diaries.
A bronze replica of Nefertiti will be placed next to her glass case so visitors can take away a tactile memory of her beauty, touching her long slender neck, high cheekbones and everted lips. She will remain in her glass case, as she is now too fragile to even move out of her room in Berlin, museum officials say. The rest of the special exhibition will consist of utensils from the royal household of Akhenaten, who became king in about 1350 BC.
"What is so fascinating is the view they provide of everyday royal life," explained Michael Eissenhauer, head of the Berlin museums. Hundreds of items - amphorae, vases, food containers and jewellery - have not been seen in public since Simon's exhibition of the finds in Berlin in 1913. They then spent decades in safe storage. They needed fresh restoration for the current show.
Seyfried said the century-long interval between the shows was largely the consequence of moving the hoard to safe storage during World War II, followed by a four-decade division of the collection between two countries, former East and West Germany. "It doesn't come from laxness on our part. It comes from what happened in Germany," she said. The exhibition opens to the public on Friday, the day after its official inauguration, and runs until April 13.