I have some good, bad, and ugly news related to museums around the world.
Let’s start with the good. After 20 years, a period which included struggles with the Islamic extremist group Muslim Brotherhood, the Grand Egyptian Museum opened after a glamorous ceremony worthy of Cleopatra the Great.
Spectators including President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gathered late on Saturday before an enormous screen outside the museum, which projected images of the country’s most famous cultural sites as dancers in glittering pharaonic-style garb waved glowing orbs and scepters.They were accompanied by Egyptian pop stars and an international orchestra decked out in white beneath a sky lit with lasers, fireworks and hovering lights that formed into moving hieroglyphics.By opening the museum, Egypt was “writing a new chapter in the story of this ancient nation’s present and future,” Sisi said at the opening.The audience included German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, and the crown princes of Oman and Bahrain.
One of the main attractions for the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will be the fabulous artifacts from King Tutankhamen’s tomb.
A main draw of the GEM will be the entire contents of the intact tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun, displayed together for the first time since it was found by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. They include Tutankhamun’s spectacular gold mask, throne and chariots.”I had to think, how can we show him in a different way, because since the discovery of the tomb in 1922, about 1,800 pieces from a total of over 5,500 that were inside the tomb were on display,” says Dr Tarek Tawfik, president of the International Association of Egyptologists and former head of the GEM.”I had the idea of displaying the complete tomb, which means nothing remains in storage, nothing remains in other museums, and you get to have the complete experience, the way Howard Carter had it over a hundred years ago.”
The entire ceremony was iconic, just like the ancient land.
Now, onto the bad. Legal Insurrection has written about Oakland, California, which is a crime-ridden swamp of leftism and corruption.
Now it’s being reported that more than 1,000 items and historical artifacts have been stolen in an early morning heist from the Oakland Museum’s off-site collection.
Authorities said that the suspect or suspects broke into the facility and stole more than 1,000 items from the museum’s collection, including “Native American baskets, jewelry [and] laptops,” according to a statement from the Oakland Police Department.“The theft that occurred represents a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage,” said Oakland Museum of California Executive Director and CEO Lori Fogarty. “Most of these objects have been given to the Museum by generous donors. We are working in close partnership with the City of Oakland, the Oakland Police Department, and the FBI to see that these objects are returned.”
I will wrap up the museum news with the “ugly.” Now four people have been formally charged in connection with the dramatic heist at the Louvre in Paris. The stolen collection, valued at approximately $102 million, remains missing. The suspects used stolen construction equipment to breach security, breaking in via a balcony and cutting open display cases in the Gallery of Apollo, making off with jewels that include imperial-era treasures associated with 19th-century French royalty.
The prosecutor said in a statement on Saturday that two of the five people who were arrested on Wednesday have been charged. One, a 37-year-old alleged to be part of the four-man team that police believe carried out the heist, has been charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said he was already known to judicial authorities. The other, a 38-year-old woman, has been charged with complicity in preparing the crime.Two other men, also alleged to be a part of the foursome, were arrested a week ago. They have also been charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy.The man and woman charged on Saturday were found through DNA and cell phone records, the prosecutor said.
There are likely several contributing factors here, including the head of the museum’s security being a diversity hire.
And a final thought, tying the two ends of this post together….this is me at the Louvre’s Egyptian collection in 2015:
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