Shrines of Cultural Larceny

I’m on vacation in Turin and decided to see the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum). Within the first few moments I realized something horrific, this museum is a shrine of theft and disrespect. The entire museum is a blatant celebration of the people who have gone into a country and excavated (desecrated) sacred monuments, tombs and statues.

There’s no real sense of purpose to the theft. Most of the summaries next to these artifacts can’t even say for sure if the items on display are religious or in any way sacred. This to me means that no time was spent learning about the significance — or insignificance of these items. No real effort was made to learn the culture that surrounds these pieces. It seems like explorers were common thieves and any item that held little or no value were put on display in glass cases. Now the masses can spend money to bring their children and pretend they are learning something about Egyptian culture.