Museums and human remains: Ethical issues in curating and displaying

Abstract

Summary In this contribution, we would like to address the ethical issues concerning detention and exposition in museums of human remains. Italian literature on the subject is still very poor in contrast with other countries. We will present two emblematic examples of complex cases involving Italian museums, requiring ethical reflection. The first is the case of the Gorini Collection (Lodi) and the recent donation of the mummies of the “Giuseppe Paravicini Collection” belonged to incurable patients of the mental hospital of Mombello, near Milan. The second is the case of the mummified remains of the head of a Celano child in the anthropological section of Chieti's University Museum, also known as “Celano child”. These cases highlight and examine the difficult and problematic issues of accessibility and providing safeguard for cultural heritage and also ethical order.