Word: museume
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...Russian law spells out considerable compensation for victims of political repression. And the Romanovs' properties were vast. The re-opened probe may facilitate their formal recognition as repression victims - or political rehabilitation, to put in Russian legalese. What if the heirs claim the Hermitage Museum - once the Imperial Winter Palace - or the Kremlin? In fact, Nicholas listed himself in the 1897 Russian census as "The Master of the Russian Land." Would this official and legal record give the heirs grounds to claim the entire country back...
Scientists like Leakey aren't the only ones who object to the impending exhibit. The Ethiopian Community Organization in Houston (ECOH), which represents some 6,000 area residents, has voiced concerns about the Houston museum's willingness to deal with the Ethiopian government, which the ECOH calls a corrupt and repressive regime. Although museum officials have met with ECOH several times, the outreach effort failed and ECOH now openly opposes the show. Bartsch, for one, thinks that's unfortunate. "Lucy is a goodwill ambassador; she represents the neutrality of science," he says...
...venerable skeleton, which is about 40% complete, normally resides in a vault at the Ethiopian National Museum in Addis Ababa. To borrow her, HMNS agreed to pay the Ethiopian government an undisclosed fee - estimates range from $300,000 to several million dollars - plus part of the proceeds from ticket and museum-store sales, money that the government has promised to Ethiopian museums. Ethiopian officials are also hoping that Americans who come to see Lucy in Houston or on tour might come to see Ethiopia too. But scientists say that argument is wrongheaded. "People will go to Ethiopia to see Lucy...
Nonetheless, HMNS president Joel Bartsch insists that even a perfect replica is no substitute for the real thing. "I'm a museum person and I believe in the importance of putting authentic artifacts on display," says Bartsch. "They resonate with viewers in a different way." He adds that "museums all around the world ship fragile, irreplaceable, priceless objects every day" - far more delicate items like the Dead Sea Scrolls and China's terra-cotta soldiers have been carted to and fro repeatedly without harm. Ian Tattersall, with New York City's American Museum of Natural History, agrees that the Houston...
...ongoing controversy may have impacted Lucy's future travel plans as well. Additional venues for her tour have yet to be announced and at least two prominent institutions - the natural history museums in Washington and Cleveland - have refused to host the exhibit. Meanwhile, in 2008 the National Museum in Ethiopia plans to inaugurate a new building dedicated to research, conservation and storage of antiquities, including fossils - but its star attraction won't be there...