Egypt Requests Return of Mummified Remains Removed from View by Glasgow Museum

Egypt has sought the return of ancient mummified remains from the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, which controversially removed those remains from its galleries last month.

The mummified head, which belonged to a man named Nekht who lived sometime between 1985 BCE and 1797 BCE, was taken off view in October. In its place then appeared a new sign: “We have removed human remains from this display as a mark of respect.”

Speaking to the Times of London at the time, a museum representative clarified that the curators felt that they did not have the consent required to continue to exhibiting the head. “In the absence of such consent, we believe removing ancient Egyptian human remains from display is more respectful to the deceased individuals,” the representative said.

Though such a removal is in keeping with industry guidelines regarding mummified remains, the removal raised ire in Scotland, where one prominent politician accused the museum of “woke madness.”

Glasgow Life, the charity that manages the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, confirmed this week to ScottishNews.com that the institution had officially received a request for the repatriation of Nekht’s remains. “We have received a request in the last few days to repatriate the Nekht remains to Egypt,” a museum spokesperson said. “Glasgow has a well-established process for repatriation requests. We will follow this process to guide our next steps.”

According to ScottishNews.com, other remains in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum’s collection have also been taken off view. Unless those remains also face repatriation requests, they will remain in a storage facility for now.