埃博物館遭掠逾千文物

Photo Source: UNESCO

戰火無情，傷及無辜，連古物亦難逃戰火。埃及亂局波及馬拉維國家博物館(Malawi National Museum)，館內逾九成文物（1,040）不知去向。埃及文物部整理失竊文物清單，以防被運送出國外。聯合國世界遺產委員會亦將有關文物列入瀕危世界遺產名單，防止它們在國際市場買賣。

UNESCO：http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/illicit-traffic-of-cultural-property/emergency-actions/egypt/warning-looting-of-the-malawi-national-museum/

埃博物館遭掠逾千文物
2013/8/19 am730

埃及安全部隊與前總統穆爾西所屬的穆斯林兄弟會支持者，連日來的衝突，除造成死傷枕藉外，還引發文化「災難」，位於首都開羅以南明亞市、藏有1,089件古文物的著名馬拉維國家博物館(Malawi National Museum)，慘遭暴徒洗劫一空。


埃及國家文物部前日公開博物館於上周四晚遭掠劫後的照片，館內玻璃展覽櫃被毀，櫃內空無一物。當局無透露被劫文物數目，但埃及傳媒稱，1,089件展覽品中，有1,040件不知去向。文物部正整理失竊文物清單，以防它們被運送出國外。聯合國世界遺產委員會亦將有關文物列入瀕危世界遺產名單，防止它們在國際市場買賣。開羅國家博物館及吉薩金字塔群等重要文物館，於上周三衝突爆發首天已關閉，以防被掠劫。另外，安全部隊與穆斯林兄弟會在開羅法特赫清真寺對峙結束，軍警前日施放催淚彈，驅散集結在寺內的民眾，期間曾傳出槍聲，未知有否造成傷亡。當局亦加緊搜查穆斯林兄弟會據點，以防他們發動示威。

Warning: Looting of the Malawi National Museum in the Upper Egypt city of Minya

2013/8/18 UNESCO

The turmoil in Egypt is having a serious impact on the country’s famous and ancient cultural heritage. Earlier this month, thieves broke into the Malawi Museum in the Upper Egypt city of Minya and plundered it, burning and destroying around fifty artifacts. The others have been stolen.

The Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities informed UNESCO of the looting on 14th August.The incident emphasizes the fragility of cultural property in conflict-affected areas.

The International Business Times reports that “photos of the Malawi National Museum … show rows of display cases broken and emptied after looters shot dead a museum employee and ransacked the institution between Thursday evening and Friday morning. Local reports suggest that vandals later burned mummies and broke sculptures too heavy to be carted away. Officials say the incident marks the biggest attack on an Egyptian cultural institution in living memory.”

More than one thousand cultural objects, dating from the beginning of the Egyptian history to the Islamic period, have reportedly disappeared.They include coins, jewels and statues.

Inventory from the Malawi National Museum (Egypt). Many of these objects are believed to be stolen or destroyed.

• In Arabic (the English version is in preparation)

The UNESCO Director-General firmly condemned “this irreversible damage to the history and identity of the Egyptian people”.

UNESCO is now working closely with the Egyptian authorities as well as with its partners (INTERPOL, WCO, ICOMOS, ICOM, etc.) to fight, by all possible means, the illicit traffic of these stolen cultural objects.

This includes the on-going provision of support, through the UNESCO Office in Cairo, to the museum staff and the Ministry of State for Antiquities to refine the list of looted objects and translate it into English. This will enable UNESCO and its partners, including INTERPOL, to give visibility to this list of stolen objects and to monitor their circulation in order to retrieve as many of them as possible. 

At the national level, on Egyptian territory, through the efforts of the Egyptian authorities, the police has already succeeded in recuperating 121 objects. 911 objects are still missing. 

At the international level, UNESCO urged the international community to ensure maximum vigilance on anticipated attempts to illegally export the most valuable pieces that would subsequently appear on the black market. Through this alert, UNESCO reminded that the objects originating from the museum are internationally identified and recorded and that as such, selling and purchasing them inside and outside of Egypt is illegal.

More information*

• More photos
• Destruction and theft of cultural heritage in Egypt, ICCROM press release, 22 August 2013
• Video: Egypt Cultural Heritage in Danger, France 24
• Malawi National Museum Looting condemned by UNESCO Amid fears Egypt's Cultural Heritage is in danger, International Business Times, 19 August 2013
• Egypt Malawi Museum: objects looted!, blue shield international, 18 August 2013 
• Antiquities Minister urges sending back objects stolen from Mallawi Museum, State Information Service (Egypte), 17 August 2013
• Looters ransack Egyptian Antiques Museum and snatch priceless artefacts as armed police move inside stormed Cairo mosque, dailymail.co.uk, 17 August 2013

*Non-exhaustive list of documents at the disposal of the public. The information contained in these documents does not necessarily express the point of view of UNESCO and does not commit the Organization.