Glasgow Museum Pulls Egyptian Mummies From Display Over Lack of 'Consent'
Is this the rightful end to disrespecting the dead or an impossible consent standard that will erase history?
Above: The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sept. 22. Image credit: Ian MacNicol/UEFA/Getty Images
The Facts
- Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, has removed ancient Egyptian human remains from display, posting a sign reading: "We have removed human remains from this display as a mark of respect." Further removals are planned at St Mungo Museum.
- Items removed include a painted coffin holding the priest Nekht, a mummified right hand from the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, plus a mummified male head and foot. Nekht's remains were donated to Glasgow in 1923.
- Glasgow Life said its draft human remains policy proposes that remains be shown only with "documented and informed consent" from the deceased or their descendants, citing the International Council of Museums' revised code of ethics published in June.
Sources Split
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The Spin
Left narrative
Dead people aren't props, and parading mummified bodies past gawking crowds turns a burial into a sideshow. Ancient Egyptians were laid to rest expecting eternal peace, and honoring that intent is basic decency. Museums can teach about ancient civilizations brilliantly without putting real corpses on show.
Right narrative
Hiding mummies in storage protects nobody and robs the public of a direct, awe-inspiring link to the ancient world. Demanding documented consent from people who died thousands of years ago sets a bar nobody can ever clear, which makes it a pretext for erasing history rather than an ethical principle. This will eventually destroy public interest in history.
