Glasgow museums change display of Egyptian mummified remains

Two Glasgow museums have changed how they display ancient Egyptian mummified remains, following an ethical review that focused on the dignity and privacy of the dead.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum has taken the remains of the priest Nekht out of public view. The Hunterian Museum has covered the body in Lady Shep-En-Hor’s coffin, while keeping the ornate sarcophagus on display.

Glasgow Life, which manages Kelvingrove, said it acted because there was no consent from Nekht or his ancestors for the remains to be shown. It also removed a mummified head, right foot and right hand recovered from the Valley of the Kings. The remains were donated to Glasgow in 1923; Nekht is thought to have lived between 1985 and 1797 BC.

The Hunterian said it consulted Egyptologists before covering Lady Shep-En-Hor, concluding that she “deserved privacy in death”. Her sarcophagus has been displayed almost continuously since 1820. The museum noted uncertainty about whether the remains inside are hers: theories questioning their identity were raised in the 1970s, and the museum says 19th-century excavators sometimes placed remains from one coffin into another.

The changes follow a revision to the International Council of Museums’ ethics code in June. It says museums should uphold the “inherent dignity” of human remains and, where possible, make decisions in collaboration with descendants or communities of origin. The code is guidance, not a requirement to remove all human remains from display.

Prof Steph Scholten, a member of the council’s ethics committee, said the code did not prescribe one outcome and that decisions rested with individual institutions. The two Glasgow museums have taken different approaches: Kelvingrove has withdrawn the remains, while the Hunterian continues to display the coffin but not the body.

There is no uniform policy across Scotland’s museums. National Museums Scotland said it was not considering changes to the display of human remains in its collection. Both Glasgow institutions said they would consider repatriation if approached by a country or institution.