A Glasgow Life spokesperson said: “We believe removing ancient Egyptian human remains from display is more respectful to the deceased individuals.”
The remains are now housed at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre in Nitshill, a vast warehouse containing roughly 1.4 million objects, with specialist storage facilities for human remains.
The decision has drawn sharp criticism from academics. Robert Thombs, emeritus professor of French history at the University of Cambridge, told The Telegraph: “I think it’s absolutely scandalous given these organisations are funded by the taxpayer.”
He argued that museums were increasingly behaving as “campaigning organisations” rather than places of learning, warning that such policies would render “areas of the past invisible” to ordinary people.
Professor Thombs added: “As for children, seeing a mummy is the heart of the experience. If you’re going to get people interested in the past, you need to see these things.”
