Latest news with #ManchesterMuseum
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Yahoo
Scene in place on Oxford Road as emergency crews rush to fears of 'hazardous substance' incident
A scene was put in place on Oxford Road in Manchester as emergency crews raced to reports of a suspected 'hazardous substance' incident on Tuesday (July 8). Police, paramedics and fire crews attended Manchester Museum at around 12.30pm following a concern for welfare regarding two people. The two people were treated at the scene after coming into contact with what they believed to be a 'potentially hazardous substance', police said. READ MORE: Dad beat up teen in Manchester United toilets after bizarre name mix-up READ MORE: Second boy, 16, who died in railway tracks tragedy named as family pay moving tribute Never miss a story with the MEN's daily Catch Up newsletter - get it in your inbox by signing up here The substance was tested and was later confirmed to not be hazardous. One of the people was taken to hospital after suffering an allergic reaction - now understood to be to peanuts and peppers. A number of emergency vehicles were seen parked along Oxford Road with a cordon also put in place around one of the entrances to the museum. A GMP spokesperson said: "At around 12.30pm today (Tuesday 8 July 2025), we were called to reports of a concern for welfare of two people at an address on Oxford Road in the city centre. "Officers attended the scene along with colleagues from the North West Ambulance Service and treated the two people after they came in contact with what was believed to be a potentially hazardous substance. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE "The substance has been tested and it has been confirmed not to be hazardous, one of the people who came in contact with substance has been taken to hospital after suffering an allergic reaction. "The scene is contained, and it is there is no wider risk to the surrounding area. No arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing." A Manchester Museum spokesperson said: "Emergency services attended an incident at Manchester Museum this afternoon. The Museum remained open while the emergency services conducted their enquiries as there was no risk to visitors. Emergency services have now concluded these enquiries and found no cause for concern." --- Day in day out, our reporters in the Manchester Evening News newsroom bring you remarkable stories from all aspects of Mancunian life. However, with the pace of life these days, the frenetic news agenda and social media algorithms, you might not be getting a chance to read it. That's why every week our Features and Perspectives editor Rob Williams brings you Unmissable, highlighting the best of what we do - bringing it to you directly from us. Make sure you don't miss out, and see what else we have to offer, by clicking here and signing up for MEN Daily News. And be sure to join our politics writer Jo Timan every Sunday for his essential commentary on what matters most to you in Greater Manchester each week in our newsletter Due North. You can also sign up for that here. You can also get all your favourite content from the Manchester Evening News on WhatsApp. Click here to see everything we offer, including everything from breaking news to Coronation Street. If you prefer reading our stories on your phone, consider downloading the Manchester Evening News app here, and our news desk will make sure every time an essential story breaks, you'll be the first to hear about it. And finally, if there is a story you think our journalists should be looking into, we want to hear from you. Email us on newsdesk@ or give us a ring on 0161 211 2920.
The National
01-07-2025
- General
- The National
English museum asks visitors if it should display 2,700-year-old Egyptian mummy
The Manchester Museum in northern England is asking visitors whether it should withdraw an ancient Egyptian mummy from its displayed collections, 200 years after it was first shown. The mummified body of a woman called Asru, who lived in ancient Thebes 2,700 years ago, has been on regular display at the museum since she was unwrapped from her wooden sarcophag i in 1825. Now, a small plaque has been placed next to her body, asking visitors to decide whether or not to keep displaying the artefact. 'Asru's mummified body was unwrapped at the Manchester Natural History Society in April 1825. She has regularly been on display for two centuries since. 'In that time, we have also changed as a museum and are thinking more about how we care for people. 'To mark 200 years since her unwrapping, we would like to start a conversation about her future.' Visitors are invited to share their thoughts online or through a small postal box next to the display. It is part of a wider conversation that museums in the UK are having about their colonial histories behind their collections. Ancient artefacts were often taken by European archaeologists and explorers from their sites and displayed back home, in acts which today would be considered art theft and looting. The Manchester Museum says that 'decolonising' is an 'integral part' or its mission. 'Decolonising is a long-term process that starts with acknowledging the true, violent history of colonialism and how it shapes our world and this museum,' it says on its website. British cotton merchants Robert and William Garnett acquired the coffins with the mummy in the ruins of Thebes in Egypt in the early 1800s and later donated it to the museum. Their father John Garnett was a known slave trader. Curator Dr Campbell Price described the sacred rituals through which Asru was first buried. 'When she died, transformative rituals of mummification were performed on her body, which was carefully wrapped in layers of linen cloth,' he said, in a video about the work. Hieroglyphs on the coffins, one inside the other, give the names of her mother, Tadiamun and her father an 'important official' Ta-Kush. The decision to unwrap her in 1825 was typical of the period's fascination with artefacts, the body and pseudosciences that were popular at the time. 'Such a decision was not uncommon as a form of investigation and entertainment, in 19th century learned societies' Dr Price writes in a blog post about Asru.
CairoScene
30-06-2025
- General
- CairoScene
Manchester Museum Asks Visitors: Should Asru's Mummy Stay on Display?
Manchester Museum has launched a public consultation asking whether it should continue displaying the 2,700-year-old mummy reflecting a wider shift in ethical museum practices and decolonisation. Jun 30, 2025 Manchester Museum is inviting visitors to share their views on whether the 2,700-year-old mummy known as Asru should remain on display. This comes as part of a broader decolonisation effort at the museum, which was named the 2025 European Museum of the Year. A plaque beside the exhibit reads: 'Should we continue to display the body of Asru?' with a postbox nearby for anonymous an affluent woman from ancient Thebes (located in modern Luxor), was mummified and displayed in Manchester since 1825, after her sarcophagus was donated by early 19th-century British collectors. Her presence in the museum is now raising questions about the legacy of colonial-era acquisitions and the ongoing ethical debate over exhibiting human remains taken during imperial rule. The issue reflects wider public concern, including calls from UK MPs to ban the display of ancestral remains acquired during colonial periods. A 2025 report from the All‑Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations recommended ending the public display of human remains without consent and facilitating repatriation wherever possible. As part of its wider 'Decolonise!' trail, Manchester Museum has also recontextualised objects from Africa and Asia, pairing them with contemporary artworks and informational booklets that encourage questions about provenance, ethics, and climate justice.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Manchester Museum asks visitors if Egyptian woman's body should be taken off display
One of Europe's leading museums is asking visitors if it should continue to display the body of an ancient Egyptian woman 200 years after it was brought to the UK by cotton merchants, as it 'decolonises' some of its most famous exhibits. Manchester Museum, which in May was named 2025's European museum of the year, is running a consultation on the future of Asru, a woman who lived in Thebes, the ancient city in the location of modern-day Luxor, 2,700 years ago. A plaque at the museum asks: 'Should we continue to display the body of Asru?', inviting visitors to submit answers in a postbox underneath. It adds: 'Asru's mummified body was unwrapped at the Manchester Natural History Society in April 1825. She has regularly been on display for the two centuries since. In that time, we have also changed as a museum and are thinking more about how we care for people.' The story of Asru's body is one of several that show how the development of the UK museum sector benefited from colonialism and transatlantic slavery, at a time when the ethics of displaying human bodies and spoils from imperial expansion are being questioned. In March a report by MPs from the all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan reparations called for bans on selling ancestral remains and publicly displaying them without consent. Asru's finely decorated wooden coffin reveals a few biographical details. An affluent woman who was about 60 when she died, her father was called Pa-Kush, which means 'the Kushite', a Black man from modern-day Sudan. Pa-Kush worked as a scribe, a high-status role, when Egypt had Kushite pharaohs. Asru's name means 'her arm is against them'. In the 19th century, Asru's sarcophagus was acquired by Robert and William Garnett, the sons of a former trader in enslaved African people, who had followed him into the cotton industry, research by one of the museum's curators, Campbell Price, found. The Garnetts donated Asru's body to the Manchester Natural History Society, the forerunner to Manchester Museum. Alongside the Asru consultation, the museum has launched its Decolonise! Trail , named after the initiative in arts and culture that is being used to challenge stereotypical perspectives linked to empire and colonialism. The trail links displays of items from Africa and Asia, subverting traditional 'Eurocentric' narratives about them through artworks newly displayed alongside them. It is supported by a booklet that asks questions such as 'Should a desire for knowledge override the wishes of ancient cultures?', 'Do you know where the minerals in your technology come from?' and 'What is climate justice?'. Sign up to The Long Wave Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world after newsletter promotion Next to African spearheads – items that the booklet describes as having 'reinforced reductive and inaccurate ideas about African people' – is an LGBTQ+ comic strip story by the Congolese artist Edher Numbi. A mural by the British artists the Singh twins in the museum's south Asia gallery examines the link between enslavement and India's colonisation. It features a 1928 quote from the then UK home secretary, William Joynson-Hicks, who, speaking of India as a major export market for 'Lancashire cotton goods', said: 'We did not conquer India for the benefit of the Indians … We conquered India as an outlet for the goods of Britain. We conquered India by the sword, and by the sword we shall hold it.' Chloe Cousins, Manchester Museum's social justice manager, who created the trail, said: 'The trail is new but the concept of decolonising isn't new to Manchester Museum at all. Telling more accurate and nuanced accounts of the history of the collections is one of the ways we can care for the people and communities whose belongings, stories and histories are held here.'
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Manchester Museum poses interesting question to visitors about mummy display
The Manchester Museum is asking visitors whether they think it should take an Egyptian mummy away from display after being in the museum for 200 years. A small plaque has been placed next to the body of Asru, a woman who lived in Thebes some 2,700 years ago. For 200 of those years Asru has been at the Manchester Museum since her she was unwrapped there in 1825. READ MORE: Friends left stunned at Manchester Airport after landing £24,000 in terminal READ MORE: Man killed after being hit by car in M60 horror with motorway closed for 12 hours Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE Now visitors are met with a plaque asking them: 'Should we continue to display the body of Asru?' It also goes into some of her history, explaining: 'Asru's mummified body was unwrapped at the Manchester Natural History Society in April 1825. "She has regularly been on display for the two centuries since. In that time, we have also changed as a museum and are thinking more about how we care for people.' The question is a part of a wider shift in museums across Britain as they more closely interrogate the link between their collections and imperialism, including the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Guardian reports. Much of the money which built both the physical museum buildings and their collections had its origins in the extractive policies of the British Empire and the mass trafficking of human beings from Africa to North and South America and the Caribbean. Museums and collections dating from after the abolition of slavery are also a part of this. Much of the huge amount of capital given to slave owners as "compensation" would go on to become a massive cash injection for the industrial revolution, including in Manchester, as the former slavers reinvested their money. Asru's body was acquired by Robert and William Garnett, the sons of someone who made money trafficking enslaved people from Africa and who then followed him into the city's booming cotton industry. Study has revealed that Asru was around 60 years old when she died, and the daughter of a "Pa-Kush", meaning a black Sudanese man, who worked as a scribe. The Museum has also launched a Decolonise! Trail, challenging eurocentric approaches to collections. Chloe Cousins, Manchester Museum's social justice manager, who created the trail, said: 'The trail is new but the concept of decolonising isn't new to Manchester Museum at all. Telling more accurate and nuanced accounts of the history of the collections is one of the ways we can care for the people and communities whose belongings, stories and histories are held here.' The Manchester Museum is not the only institution in Manchester to be grappling with the often difficult history of its collections. A piece by artist Kani Kamil at Manchester Art Gallery as part of the exhibition Rethinking the Grand Tour saw her put a pre-1910 Iraqi Kurdish dress on display - but still in the box in which it is stored. This was accompanied by a message written on the wall in Kurdish reflecting on the memory and humanity contained within that box. It is like so many other boxes from all around the world kept hidden away in museum archives here in the UK, hundreds or even thousands of miles from their homes and the people that created them.
