A series of photos of the ransacked interior of Mallawi Museum in Minya governate (40 km south of the town of Minya) was published by the Daily Mail on Saturday (Jill Reilly, 'Looters ransack Egyptian antiques museum and snatch priceless artefacts as armed police move inside stormed Cairo mosque', Daily Mail, 17 August 2013).
It is not clear when these photos were taken, they show empty and overturned cases with the glass smashed, a number of objects some broken scattered on the floor and a lot of dirt and dust everywhere.Either they were taken before the museum was burnt (as reported), or reports about the latter were untrue. Other buildings in the vicinity were torched, there are photos of these too in the Daily Mail.
What's that black stuff on the floor in the second picture?
What is clear, from this and seeing what happened in the Egyptian Museum where exactly the same kind of cases (early 20th century vintage?) were in use is that they are not secure. The glass in them is normal float glass is not reinforced and can easily be smashed, light cases on thin flimsy legs can be overturned easily. In order to make these museum objects more secure, these cases need urgently to be replaced by ones with proper glass and climate control, on plinths as in most modern museums elsewhere.
That's what the Egyptian Archaeologists' Syndicate could more usefully be kicking up a fuss about, instead of getting sidetracked attacking their foreign colleagues in these difficult times.
Photos Daily Mail ("Photos of the damaged artefacts and empty display cases were released this afternoon" - 17th August)
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