Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Hawass Tut Price Tag too Dear for Aussies

Egypt's Tut Exhibit won't make it to Australia because the population of potential museum-goers "Downunder" can't support the $10 million price tag Zahi Hawass and the Egyptian Government are demanding. See http://www.smh.com.au/national/egypts-10m-tag-too-much-to-show-tuts-treasures-20091204-kb5s.html

Archaeologists have long claimed that market nations should restrict imports of cultural goods in favor of promoting long term loans of artifacts to museums, but Egypt has extacted top dollar for such displays.

Luckily, the Austrians have come to the Australian's rescue with their own exhibit of Egyptian art from the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. By contrast, this exhibit cost the Australian Museum about $1.5 million.
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1 comment:

  1. bobDecember 9, 2009 at 7:24 PM

    Great post!

    I think one must ask. How can anyone seriously argue that the validity of the movement to return great articles of history to their "home country"?

    Is he acting like a

    Cultural steward of "national treasures"

    or an

    Opportunist looking to make $$$$

    ReplyDelete

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