An average day at the National Museum of Ireland

(DUBLIN) Lost biblical artefacts. Dire warnings from the past. Stolen Nazi loot. Interfering government ministers. Archaeologists in fetching hats. Any of this starting to sound familar?

Yesterday, we reported the wonderful news which had been released in a statement by the National Museum of Ireland about the discovery of fragments of 'what appear to be an ancient psalter, or Book of Psalms', which were discovered during bulldozer excavations, in the Irish midlands, last week.

But today, in what can only be described as one of the weirdest stories we've seen for some time, Dr. Patrick Wallace (the NMI's Director) was compelled to release a statement to appease the fears of some who saw the discovery of the manuscript as a sign of impending armageddon for Israel.

A thousand years

The Irish Times reports:

'As news of the discovery of a 1,000-year-old psalter in a bog in the midlands made its way briskly around the world this week, keen eyes fell on an ostensibly peripheral detail: while most pages had yet to be carefully studied, the museum had said, there was one that was legible. Psalm 83.

And with that, the news websites and blogs began to hum, each one honing in on Psalm 83 and its supposed reference to "the wiping of Israel from the map".'

Dr. Wallace was at pains to state that the reference visible in the just-excavated text did not refer to Iranian-like prophesies about Israel's impending doom, but rather to 'the vale of tears'. The confusion, it would seem, arises from the fact that during the time this manuscript was written the precise order of the Psalms would have been different to the modern order based on the King James' Bible. Speaking on the NMI website, Dr. Wallace said:

'This is part of verse 7 of Psalm 83 in the old latin translation of the Bible (the Vulgate) which, in turn, was translated from an original Greek text would have been the version used in the medieval period. In the much later King James version the number of the Psalms is different, based on the Hebrew text and the 'vale of tears' occurs in Psalm 84. The text about wiping out Israel occurs in the Vulgate as Psalm 82 = Psalm 83 (King James version).'

As a former employee of the museum, I'm thrilled to see the NMI getting so much press and deservedly getting the kudos for acquiring and preserving such a wonderful artefact. But I do have wonder at the idiocy of those looking for revelations-like meanings in archaeological finds. Has the ridiculous crock that is the DaVinci Code permeated popular culture that much that academic scholars and museum directors now have to spend their time allaying the fears and fantasies of people whose lens on world history is tuned to help them see the 'end of days' around every cultural corner?

And then the Nazis arrived...

And, if averting the end of the world isn't enough for you, the National Museum have also been busy with the thorny issue of the Hunt Museum in Limerick and its alleged involvement with the Nazis during the Second World War. A piece in today's Limerick Post explains that the Irish government are demanding that Dr. Wallace appear before 'Minister of State, Tim O’Malley to clarify what if any role has been played by one of his senior officials in "maintaining accusations against the Hunt Museum and its benefactors, John and Gertrude Hunt”.'

Marie Hobbins reports:

'As reported in last week’s Limerick Post the Wiesenthal Institute in Paris which has alleged that the Hunts had "intimate business relationships with notorious dealers in art looted by the Nazis”, has rejected a report of the Hunt Museum Evaluation Group which was specially set up to examine the allegations on the grounds that the report "is neither independent or transparent”.

The report had been considered in detail at a recent day-long seminar at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA). Following rejection of the report by the Wiesenthal Centre, it was reported that Eamonn Kelly, keeper of antiquities at the National Museum was supporting the Centre and that he had told the RIA seminar that he had evidence that the Government was covering up links between the Hunts and Nazi dealers. It is understood that Mr Kelly and the Wiesenthal Centre have referred to Irish military intelligence on the Hunts and that the files are currently being investigated.'

As unpleasant as it is, the stories concerning the Hunt Museum and the provenance of many of the items in its collection have been knocking around for years now. And it's a story that just won't go away until it's explored properly. Here's hoping that the truth of the matter can come to light in the not too distant future.

I would have called some old friends of mine at the museum to ask them for a comment, but I'm pretty sure they'd be too busy dodging giant boulders, hanging off the side of tanks and trying to look after the nation's heritage to have time to answer. So, Minister O' Mallley, maybe you should just keep your nose out of it and let them get on with their jobs? Just a suggestion.

More:

Irish Times

National Museum of Ireland

The Hunt Museum

I see the Slate have picked up on this...