Manchester Museum has removed an ancient Egyptian mummy from public display, ending a 200-year exhibition of the remains of a woman named Asru. Curators stated the decision was made to "respect her wishes" and aligns with a growing understanding of how to care for human remains.
Asru's mummified body, believed to be approximately 2,700 years old, was donated to the Manchester Natural History Society in 1825. It was subsequently unwrapped and put on display in the museum's Egypt and Sudan gallery. The museum consulted with Egyptian colleagues, members of the Egyptian diaspora, and visitors before making the decision to remove Asru from view.
"Elite Egyptians of [Asru's] time expected their mummified bodies would remain invisible to the living," a museum spokesperson explained. Asru, whose name translates to "daughter of Pa-Kush" (meaning a black Sudanese man), is thought to have been 60 years old when she died around 650 BC. Inscriptions on her coffin indicate she was a temple musician, possibly a chantress at the ancient Temple of Amun in Karnak.
Her remains were originally exhumed in Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes, and acquired by Manchester traders William and Robert Garnett in the early 19th century. Last year, the museum placed a plaque noting that Asru's body was unwrapped in 1825 and had been regularly displayed since, prompting reflection on how museums care for human collections.
Asru's coffin and body are currently stored at Manchester Museum, with officials considering whether to repatriate them to Egypt. The move comes amid a broader discussion about the ethics of displaying mummified human remains.
Other institutions have also re-evaluated their practices. In 2020, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford removed mummies and shrunken heads, citing that their exhibition reinforced racist stereotypes. This followed a three-year review aimed at addressing the museum's colonial legacy.
In 2025, an all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan Reparations declared the display of human remains unethical, asserting that many mummies were looted from Egypt and subjected to racist research. Their report, "Laying the Ancestors to Rest," called for the return of all human remains held by British institutions to their countries of origin, suggesting repatriation could aid the African diaspora in healing from the traumas of enslavement and colonial violence.
The report alleged that remains were often brought to the UK as trophies or commodities, citing institutions like the British Museum, Natural History Museum, and various universities. It also noted claims that mummified individuals were used in pseudoscientific research aimed at proving Egyptians were white Europeans.
In recent years, several prominent museums have updated their terminology. The British Museum announced in 2023 that it would no longer use the term 'mummy,' opting instead for 'mummified remains' out of respect for the individuals. Similarly, the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle and National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh have adopted terms like 'mummified person' to acknowledge colonial exploitation and honor the individuals. These museums emphasize that "mummy" can be dehumanizing, while "mummified person" encourages visitors to consider the individual's identity and history. Museums also note the word's association with horror film tropes.