June 22, 2006
Zahi Hawass does Chicago
I only just ran across this, in an article on blunders that get the boss in trouble:
It was all so innocent. Standing in for his boss at a ceremony to kick off the Field Museum's King Tut exhibit, Exelon executive Randy Mehrberg casually mentioned that Exelon Chief Executive John Rowe loves Egyptian artifacts so much that he keeps a sarcophagus on display in his office.As it turns out, however, the sarcophagus was hardly a "cultural treasure" -- and while Hawass may be justified in pushing for repatriation of genuine cultural treasures, he was way out of line in insisting that Egypt's blanket ban on private ownership of even run-of-the-mill antiquities be applied worldwide on his say-so. Dan Miller has yet harsher words in this column in the Chicago Sun-Times:As he sat on the same stage, Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's antiquities council, could hardly believe his ears. A cultural treasure from his homeland squirreled away in the office of a Chicago utility executive? It was an outrage!
Hawass stepped up to the microphone and launched an all-out attack, threatening to cut off ties with the museum unless Rowe surrendered the sarcophagus immediately. A day later, Rowe caved and offered to lend the artifact to the Field indefinitely.
On the eve of the opening of the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum last week, Egypt's bombastic chief of the modestly named Supreme Council of Antiquities demanded that Rowe turn over the sarcophagus to the Field Museum or Egypt would sever ties with the museum for all time, and withdraw its support of the Tut exhibit.Though this particular antiquity probably would not even be on exhibit at the Field were it not for diplomatic necessity. In all likelihood, it would sit in storage, or be quietly deaccessioned. And were it in the Cairo Museum, it would surely be rotting forgotten in the basement.Zahi Hawass declared to the press that "antiquities should be in a museum, not in people's homes."
PS NY Times writeup here.
Posted by David on June 22, 2006 2:38 PM
Zagi (The Hun) Hawass) is a man with many faces. He has a very big loud mouth about preservation of antiquities. However there are recordings which show him in the oasis of the golden mummies distroying precious artefacts. On this recordings on can see that he tells a cameraman to go away from a stone sarcophagus which contains a mummy and some artefacts because this cameraman may damage something. 2 minutes later we can see him standing with one of his large heavy shoes inside this sarcophagus and powdering the remains of the mummy. This is not only a crime in an archeological way but also a display of total disrespect on humain remains.
A few years ago "The "Hun" was in the newspapers connected to a scandal where a container which looted antiquities was catched in spain while it was entering the country. This container filled which precious ancient objects with a high historical and financial value had been exported from Egypt with documents provided by a man working on the antiquities department in Cairo. These documents stated that this container contained replicas of ancient egyptian art. According to the newspapers this person had been placed in this position by Zagi himself. Moreover after this event Zagi disappeared from the face of the earth for a week. Nobody of the international press could reach or find him. After this week he raised, as back from the dead, and did not give an explanation on his whereabouts. He stood in the portal of his house loudmouthed giving his well known abusive talk.
From a source inside the archeoligcal department information came out that the following month Zagi "The Hun" Hawass was in a terrible mood. He was a totally different person. Nobody could approach him without being loudmouthed and shouted on. He was not into talks on a normal human level.
One can wonder why this happened. A person who has retrieval of looted antiquities at heart should normally be pleased that such an important illegal shipment has been captured and the culprives been caught.
I leave it to the reader to draw his own conclusions about the actions of "The Hun" in the footlights and behind the screens.
Kreupel
Posted by: Henk Kreupel on June 30, 2006 4:56 AM
cronaca.com