Nefertiti Gets a New Palace

For seven decades Berlin’s Neues Museum was a derelict, bomb-scarred shell — but finally it is back, boasting a star-studded cast including the 3,400-year-old bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti. The entire ensemble of Berlin’s neoclassical galleries will be open for the first time since World War II. The neoclassical architecture, recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site, has been lent a modernist touch by British architect David Chipperfield. White modern stairways sweep past old bricks pocked by bullets in World War II, original columns still have fire damage and neo-classical mosaics and pseudo-Egyptian murals still seem to flake away on ceilings and walls.