With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Egyptian Museum threatened by fire next door

Ancient artifacts at Cairo's famed Egyptian Museum are safe from looters but could still be damaged by the potential collapse of a neighboring building gutted by fire, the head of the country's antiquities chief said Saturday.

The ruling party headquarters building next door to the museum was still in flames and billowing black smoke into the sky on Saturday, a day after protesters torched it during mass anti-government demonstrations.

"What scares me is that if this building is destroyed, it will fall over the museum," antiquities boss Zahi Hawass said as he watched fire trucks try to extinguish the blaze in the NDP headquarters.

Early Saturday morning, Egyptian army commandoes secured the museum and its grounds, located near some of the most intense of the mass anti-government protests sweeping across the capital.

Before the army arrived, young Egyptians — some armed with truncheons grabbed off the police — created a human chain at the museum's front gate to prevent looters from making off with any of its priceless artifacts....
Read entire article at AP