The Egyptian Museum in Cairo - In the Eye of the Storm

About.com: The Egyptian Museum in Cairo - In the Eye of the Storm
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is one of Egypt's major tourist attractions. It houses many of the treasures found in the tombs and pyramids built by the Queens and Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. The Egyptian Museum is where you find mummies, sarcophagi, pottery, jewellery and of course King Tutankhamen's treasures. King Tut's goodies include his socks, underwear and the boy-king's death-mask made of solid gold, described as the most beautiful object ever made.

The Egyptian Museum is located right on Tahrir square, where much of the action has taken place in the past few weeks. The BBC reports that looting took place on 28 January, and several items went missing including a statue of King Tut. There was damage done to many more items and display cases. The Museum's director and some of his staff decided to sleep in the museum to avoid further looting while the protests were ongoing.

The Minister of State for Antiquities Zahi Hawass announced yesterday that some items had been recovered and they expect to find more. Nine suspected looters have been detained in custody, National Geographic has a nice blog post about how they were caught. The Museum remains closed for now and is guarded by the army. The army is also guarding the Pyramids that lie just outside of Cairo's center, but as yet, there are no tourists around to protect.