Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine el-Aref)
A poor comment on Egyptian museum security.
A poor comment on Egyptian museum security.
Last Wednesday, the people of Cairo woke up to a piece of bad news. Two 19th-century pieces of embroidered Al-Kaaba Kiswa (the Kaaba cloth) had been stolen from the Khedive Tawfik mausoleum in the eastern cemetery, the Qubbat Afandina.
The pieces, embroidered with calligraphy in gold and silver threads, were two of many that were sent over the years by the Egyptian monarchy to cover the Kaaba in Saudi Arabia. They were hanging on the walls of the mausoleum.
Each one consisted of three decorated coloured ribbons embroidered in gold and silver depicting verses of the poem Al-Sira Al-Mohamadeya (Biography of the Prophet Mohamed).
The thieves escaped and are now at large. Investigations are now underway to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
There is no doubt that the theft involved a certain amount of negligence by authorities. Who, though, is to blame?