Back in November the British Museum announced the ‘Rosetta Project’, an estimated £1 billion refurbishment plan named after the crown jewel in their Egypt collection. But recently the museum decided to ditch the name.
It seems to be a shrewd diplomatic move. The museum has come under pressure to repatriate various artefacts from its permanent collection, including the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes. A petition to return the Rosetta Stone, drawn up by Egypt’s former minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass, has around 200,000 signatures so far.
