The decision by Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum has sparked accusations of “woke madness”
A British museum has removed ancient Egyptian mummies from public display, citing a lack of “consent” from the deceased and drawing accusations of excessive political correctness.
The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, is one of the country’s most popular cultural attractions, drawing more than 1.3 million visitors annually. Its collections include Egyptian antiquities and mummified remains that have been exhibited for years.
Among the items taken off display were a painted coffin containing the remains of an Egyptian priest named Nekht, a mummified male head, a right foot, and a right hand recovered from the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, the Glasgow Times reported on Thursday.
My daughter has a book on the ancient Egyptians and has been quite animated by it so we took her to Kelvingrove Museum to see their mummy. Except, it’s no longer there.
All ‘human remains’ gone with the following sign up in place of exhibits that have been there for years. https://t.co/DKGOx4VjpR
The changes came to public attention after a visitor said he had taken his daughter to see an Egyptian mummy, only to discover that it was no longer there. He shared a photograph on X of a museum notice stating that the remains had been removed “as a mark of respect.”
Mummies have been removed from display at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow because of a ‘lack of consent from the deceased individual’.
A Glasgow Life spokesman said: ‘The removal of human remains from display at Glasgow Life museums reflects contemporary museum practice.
‘The International Council of Museums’ revised Code of Ethics, published in June 2026, states that museums “should uphold the inherent dignity of human remains and promote respect for their significance”.
‘The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations 2025 report, “Laying Ancestors to Rest”, also raises ethical concerns about the display of ancient Egyptian human remains due to the consistent disregard of the potential wishes of the ancestors and the intention of the communities that originally laid them to rest.
Glasgow Life, which operates the museum, said the move reflected contemporary museum practices, citing revised ethical guidelines published by the International Council of Museums in June. The guidelines call for human remains to be treated with dignity and respect.
The organization’s draft policy proposes that such exhibits should be displayed only with documented, informed consent from the deceased or, where appropriate, their descendants.
“In the absence of such consent, we believe removing ancient Egyptian human remains from display is more respectful to the deceased individuals,” a Glasgow Life spokesperson said.
The decision drew criticism from Scottish Conservative politician Murdo Fraser, who described it as “woke madness.”
“Even Egyptian mummies are now being cancelled by a society so obsessed with modern sensibilities that it has lost all sense of perspective,” said Fraser.
Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education and a former adviser to the British prime minister’s policy unit, also condemned the move as “virtue-signaling, woke nonsense.”
“It is not possible to seek permission from those who died thousands of years ago,” he said, adding that museums in Egypt continue to exhibit mummified remains.
Egypt itself has defended the display of its antiquities in foreign museums. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said last year that thousands of artifacts legally exported to Britain serve as the “best ambassadors of Egypt,” attracting international visitors to the country. Cairo has nevertheless continued to demand the return of looted treasures, including the Rosetta Stone held by the British Museum and the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin.
Glasgow Life said it is also working to remove further archaeological human remains from Kelvingrove and plans to remove a coffin and mummified remains from the nearby St Mungo Museum afterward.
The controversy follows a similar decision by Manchester Museum, which removed the 2,700-year-old mummified remains of an Egyptian woman named Asru in September after more than two centuries on public display.
