Egypt asks for return of ancient mummy behind Scots controversy

CAIRO – Egypt said it has requested the return of the 4,000-year-old mummified remains of a priest whose removal from display at a Glasgow museum due to ethical concerns sparked debate in Scotland.Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Scotland’s largest city took the corpse of Nekht out of public view in late October because of a lack of “consent from the deceased” or their descendants, according to local media reports.“We are currently in the process of communicating and taking the measures” required for Nekht’s possible return, Egyptian Tourism Minister Sherif Fathy told Bloomberg by phone.“We shall see how things unfold as such issues aren’t straightforward.”Egypt, where Pharonic-era pyramids, temples and tombs are a major draw for foreign tourists, has long sought the legal return of ancient artefacts that were taken abroad in recent centuries.The North African nation inaugurated the high-tech US$1 billion (S$1.28 billion) Grand Egyptian Museum in 2025, which now houses some of its most famed treasures.The Kelvingrove museum’s operators, Glasgow Life, earlier said they had received an Egyptian request to return Nekht’s remains, without specifying who had made it.The charity’s decision to remove the mummy from display in Scotland followed a recent change in the ethics code of the International Council of Museums urging the “inherent dignity” of human remains be respected.Glasgow’s nearby Hunterian Museum has decided to cover the more than 2,500-year-old body of Lady Shep-En-Hor in a specially designed textile while leaving her sarcophagus on view, the BBC reported.Egypt, also famed for its Nile cruises and Mediterranean and Red Sea beach resorts, targets attracting a record 20 million tourists in 2026 and 22 million in 2027. BLOOMBERG