Taken...

Some artefacts taken from Cairo Museum remind us of when those same precious objects were taken from Egypt and now fill other countries' collections.
Not that I am a defensor of repatriating ancient Egyptian artefacts to Egypt, but nevertheless I post this as a reminder that nothing is safe from being robbed, sold, destroyed or forgotten...

I have to link this post to Dr. Hawass' website as it is the 'official' report of the stolen objects.

Should museums limit the quantity of daily visitors when they have a huge appeal like the Egyptian Museum in Cairo?

Should artefacts be left in their place of retrieval and a small visitor's room built to house them?

Should artefacts be guarded by alarms, guards, glass windows and bars?

Should the general public, tourists in general, with no particular interest in those but pure curiosity be banned from visiting these collections?

Should governments issue new laws protecting heritage in situ and in museums penalizing heavily those who destroy, steal, vandalize and try to touch these artefacts?

Food for thought...


The paradox is that institutions around th world, because of the economic crisis, they say, are closing down ancient history departments, cutting money for research, and storing precious historic artefacts in damp basements.
Should culture be the last one to receive money when a country's annual budget is drawn?

Why?

The recent events in Egypt sow us that the world is concerned about this, so, why do governments still cut on education and research and promote tourism and construction businesses, if then we have nothing to show, no one to talk about it and nothing to conclude about?

I believe the recent events in Egypt shoud shake all governments' priorities as the future generations are bound to be lacking culture, aims in life and even if it sounds ridiculous, they are also condemned to be deaf as the use of music/noise banging your head all day and night will destroy the rest of the brain cells they have left...

Promoting culture, investing money in heritage and education/research would certainly attrack many young people to study and work in these areas.

Do we want to be controlled by machines one day? Investing all the country's economy on computers, planes, military equipment, chemical medicines, house appliances that think for you, cars that drive by themselves, and chips which have all your life's history?