Egypt demands return of Scottish museum mummy after remains removed from display over ‘consent’ concerns

Last month, the museum made the decision to withdraw all mummified remains from its popular Egyptian hall entirely.

The council-funded charitable body that runs the museum cited the “absence of consent from the deceased individual or their ancestors” as justification for the removal.

A spokesman for Glasgow Life confirmed: “We have received a request in the last few days to repatriate the Nekht remains to Egypt.”

The organisation could not confirm where the request had come from, but assured it has a “well-established” process for repatriation requests.

Among the items taken off display were a painted coffin holding the remains of the priest Nekht, who is believed to have lived between 1985 and 1797 BC.

The remains were donated to the city of Glasgow in 1923.

Other items on display included a mummified male head, a mummified right hand retrieved from the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, and a mummified foot.

A Glasgow Life spokesman said of the decision: “We believe removing ancient Egyptian human remains from display is more respectful to the deceased individuals.”

The remains were taken to the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre in Nitshill, a vast warehouse containing roughly 1.4 million objects, with specialist storage facilities for human remains.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum said the decisions followed a reassessment of their “duty of care” towards the deceased.

The Icom Code of Ethics for Museums was revised in June, which states museums should “uphold the inherent dignity of human remains and promote respect for their significance”.

The code says: “Decisions about these items and collections should be made in collaboration with descendants or communities from which they originate, if known.”

The move by Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum follows Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum, which chose to conceal the display of the remains of a 2,700-year-old Egyptian mummy known as Lady Shep-En-Hor.

The publicly funded institution first draped the body in a conservation-grade textile called Tyvek in August 2025, preventing visitors from seeing the ancient wrappings beneath.

Now, the museum has confirmed it will keep the remains concealed under the textile.

The museum said: “The Hunterian takes the view that the Lady Shep-En-Hor deserves privacy in death, while retaining its commitment to providing visitors, students and staff with an accessible introduction to the importance of Ancient Egyptian culture for an understanding of the world’s history.”

“It is at The Hunterian’s discretion to make decisions about displays and narratives in its public venues. After considerable consideration of the different options, as outlined in the statement, there was broad consensus that this was the preferred course of action to be taken by The Hunterian.

“The wrapped remains were covered in August 2025, using a conservation-grade textile-like material called Tyvek.”