Cairo museum survives Egyptian looters

摘要

Amid the public unrest in Egypt last week, Cairo's world-famous Museum of Egyptian Antiquities seems to have been spared serious damage. Looters tried to steal two mummy skulls and damaged some 100 items at the museum on 28 January. But other citizens stepped in to guard the museum, which holds precious antiquities including Tutankhamun's death mask, before the army secured the building the next day (pictured). Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, says that the damaged items can be restored, adding that the looters mainly stole jewellery from the gift shop. Archaeological sites outside the city may not have been not so lucky, reports suggested as Nature went to press.