Should we continue to display the body of Azru? | Manchester Museum

Описание: Should we continue to display the body of Azru? Is it right for museums to have the bodies of mummified people on display?

We’d like to know your thoughts in the comments or in the post box next to Azru’s display case.

Following the British invasion of Egypt in 1882, the European-controlled Egyptian government allowed archaeologists from Europe to export some of the items they excavated on Egyptian and Sudanese land.

Manchester Museum benefitted from this colonial system; housing around 18,000 objects and ancestral remains from Egypt and Sudan. Excavation sponsors cared little about what their mass removal of Egypt’s cultural heritage and ancestors meant for ancient or contemporary Egyptians.

Azru lived in southern Egypt some 2700 years ago. The transformative rituals of mummification were performed on her body, which was acquired in Egypt in the early 1800s by Robert and William Garnett.

Unwrapping and studying Ancient Egyptian ancestors has enabled scientists to develop understandings of human biology that have informed medical practices today. Are there ways to ethically extract knowledge from ancient civilisations who are not able to give consent? How might present day, as well as Ancient Egyptians feel about Asru’s unwrapped body being on display in this museum?

This year marks 200 years since she was shipped to Manchester and unwrapped at the Manchester Natural History Society and we’d love to know what you think. Should Asru be kept on display?