Glasgow's Kelvingrove takes the priest Nekht and other Egyptian remains off display over consent

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow has taken its ancient Egyptian human remains out of the galleries. They include the remains of a priest named Nekht, a mummified male head, a mummified foot and a mummified right hand from the Valley of the Kings at Luxor. Glasgow Life, the publicly funded organisation that runs the city's museums, said its draft human remains policy permits display only with the documented, informed consent of the dead person or, where appropriate, their descendants; without it, the Egyptian remains are better kept off show.

Glasgow Life cited the revised ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, which the International Council of Museums adopted at its 41st General Assembly in June 2026. Its article C.3 asks museums to "uphold the inherent dignity of human remains and promote respect for their significance".

Manchester Museum took the mummified body of Asru, an Egyptian woman, off display in September after consulting Egyptian colleagues, the Egyptian diaspora and visitors. On 16 September DCMS announced a review of its 2005 Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums, chaired by Baroness Black of Strome, with updated guidance expected in autumn 2027. The guidance covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so Scotland is outside it.

Kelvingrove's Cypriot collection is a large group of antiquities lent in 1870 by Robert Hamilton Lang, who excavated a sanctuary at Idalion in 1868 and 1869, and given to the museum in 1903.