In the midst of political upheaval in Egypt, looters have broken into several museums around the country, including the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, which is located near Tahrir Square in Cairo, where the main protests have been taking place. Fortunately, a fire in the neighboring headquarters of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak did not spread to the museum, but it was broken into on Friday, along with many other art institutions around the country.
Meanwhile, Zahi Hawass, the outspoken antiquities head whom Mubarak today named to the newly created post of state minister for antiquities as part of an emergency cabinet overhaul, has been fighting back against the looters.

In a post on his blog — which he faxed to colleagues in Italy for posting, since Internet service is still suspended in Egypt — Hawass wrote that Friday night a 1,000-strong mob ransacked all of the jewelry in the museum's new gift shop, mistaking it for the actual collection. Ten people, however, found their way to the museum itself, entering the Late Period gallery and throwing antiquities on the floor. In the King Tutankhamun galleries, the looters opened only one case and smashed a statue of the boy king on a panther. According to Hawass, the looters did not locate any antiquities containing jewels or gold and did not steal anything from the museum itself.

According to Hawass — who did not go to the museum until Saturday morning due to the nighttime curfew — the vandals have been arrested. He described a human chain of volunteers that helped him protect the museum on Saturday, until the army could secure the site.
While the archaeologist was optimistic all the damaged antiquities can be repaired, CNN showed footage from Egyptian state television of smashed glass cases and broken objects. Two mummies were reportedly beheaded.

A different take on events was offered by Wafaa El-Saddik, former director of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, who told the German magazine Die Zeit that museum guards were responsible for the looting. El-Saddik — who led the museum until just a month ago — said that the disgruntled guards were very badly paid, earning about 250 Egyptian pounds per month (about $42), or sometimes even less, and that she had tried to obtain higher pay for them without success. According to El-Saddik, Egypt's culture ministry — where Hawass is vice minister — was more concerned "with expensive projects and receptions."

Widespread looting has occurred in other museums around the country. According to Hawass, a Sinai warehouse containing antiquities from the Port Said Museum was looted by a large armed group, but an attempted break-in at the Royal Jewelry Museum was foiled because the employees had moved all the objects to the basement and sealed it before leaving. Hawass told the Washington Post that other looters attempted to enter the Coptic Museum, the National Museum of Alexandria, and El Manial Museum, but that they were not successful. Yet according to El-Saddik, the museum in Memphis — which Hawass did not mention in his blog post — was robbed of its entire contents Saturday morning.

Security at Egyptian museums is a pressing concern in the country — even when there is no revolution underway. When a Van Gogh painting valued at $50 million was stolen from the Cairo's Mahmoud Khalil Museum last August, it was revealed that many alarms were not working, most security cameras were turned off, and the institution was understaffed. The painting has still not been recovered, even though 11 museum officials were sentenced to jail time for negligence.

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities contains such treasures as King Tut's mummy and his celebrated golden mask. While the institution seems for the most part to have been spared, the looting raised the specter of the crisis that befell the Iraqi National Museum in the early days of the Iraq War, when 15,000 items were stolen, with only one third to one half of them having been returned since then.