Jonathan Downs

Jonathan Downs reports on the fire last December that caused extensive damage to one of Egypt’s most important collections of historical manuscripts.

The anti-government protests in Egypt earlier this year swept through Cairo and Alexandria before measures could be taken to protect antiquities in museums and archaeological sites in those cities and across the country. Yet, argues Jonathan Downs, the impact on Egyptian heritage and the repatriation debate has been a positive one.

The economic crisis in Greece has drawn attention to the question of where best to display treasures such as the Elgin Marbles. Jonathan Downs offers some solutions to a historical tug of war.

Jonathan Downs looks at a collection of Egyptian pottery sherds discovered at the National Trust’s mansion, Kingston Lacy, in Dorset.

Discovered during the French occupation but seized by the victorious British after six months of desert battle, the Rosetta Stone symbolized the struggle for cultural supremacy between two great rivals.