Met Yanks Mohammed Art

Is Metropolitan Museum of Art getting jihad jitters?
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 11, 2010 2:10 AM CST
Met Yanks Mohammed Art
Michael R. Bloomberg speaks at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art last year.   (Getty Images)

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art may be burying its collection of Islamic art, all in the name of political correctness.Three ancient renderings of the prophet Mohammed are no longer on display. “This is typical of the Met—trying to avoid any controversy,” an inside source tells the New York Post, while a museum rep insists the pieces simply don’t fit within the current theme.

The Met currently has just 60 of its 60,000-piece collection on display, as larger galleries are renovated and slated to open in 2011. But even then, images Mohammed may not go on display. Conservative Muslims object to images of Mohammed, and the museum says the pieces are “under review.” The previously named “Islamic Galleries” will also be renamed—which an Islamic art expert says is “a shame.”
(More Mohammed stories.)

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