Egypt: Pyramids, King Tut and Museums Caught in Crisis

Feb. 1, 2011 — -- Ask your friends what they think of when you mention Egypt and they'll probably say "the pyramids," or "King Tut," or perhaps "Cleopatra."

Egypt's great historical treasures -- the artifacts of its early civilization -- are caught in the crossfire as demonstrators challenge the government of President Hosni Mubarak. Anxiety over them continued even after Mubarak announced he would not seek reelection.

"There has been some attempted vandalism, and, frankly, it makes no sense," said Bill Petty, who, with his wife, Linda, leads American tour groups to Egypt's great archeological sites. "They didn't go for any gold, they broke some statues. It's mindless."

For Complete Coverage of the Crisis in Egypt, Featuring Exclusive Reporting From Christiane Amanpour, Click Here

Petty spoke to ABC News by phone from a hotel in Luxor, on the Nile River, not far from the famed Valley of the Kings. He said the city was quiet, and he did not fear for his safety, but he and his wife had made arrangements for all their guests to leave the country -- and when they were gone, the Pettys would follow State Department directions and leave as well.

"It's not the people with a political agenda who are doing the damage, it's criminals," he said. "The army has done a great job of protecting the major things, but there aren't enough of them."

Four hundred miles to the north, at the Egyptian National Museum, Zahi Hawass walked the darkened halls and expressed calm. If you have watched a documentary or a news story about Egyptology in the last 10 years, you have probably seen Hawass -- the flamboyant, larger-than-life director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities -- and you know that he is rarely calm.

"If the museum is safe, Egypt is safe," Hawass said to an Associated Press reporter following him.

Soldiers ring the museum. Even in crisis, Egypt's government -- and the protesters who would bring it down -- know the country depends heavily on the tourists who crowd here in calmer times, marveling at the mummies and their tombs.

Today, as masses of demonstrators filled downtown Cairo, a banner was spotted on the Al-Jazeera cable network.

"Dear Tourists, please do not leave. We will protect you," it said in Arabic.

Hawass said about 50 looters had broken into the National Museum on Friday and damaged two mummies -- but he assured reporters that little of historical value was damaged.

Robert Brier, an Egyptologist at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University and a contributing editor to Archeology magazine, was hearing differently.

"Almost all the things they went after were gilded," he said. "Perhaps they thought they were gold, and smashed them."

He said the artifacts were not, in fact, made of gold, just painted to look that way. The mummy of Tuya, the great-grandmother of King Tutankhamen, appeared in one news photo with its breast plate removed.