COURTESY OF CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

In 2010, one of the more unusual Christmas gifts Pittsburghers could buy was a $39.95 snow globe at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History containing a miniaturized diorama that had fascinated museum patrons since 1899. 

At that time, the diorama — one of the most popular displays at the museum — was called  “Arab Courier Attacked by Lions,” which depicted a courier atop a camel fending off an attack from two now-extinct Barbary lions. Instead of artificial snow flakes, the glass sphere contained flecks of gold leaf that mimic a sandstorm when shaken. There were 100 preorders of the globe even before it arrived for that year’s Christmas shopping season.

How times have changed.

The diorama now has been removed permanently by the museum under a new policy on displays containing human remains. 

Over the years the diorama has taken a controversial journey through the museum as growing cultural sensitivities of museum pieces and display of human artifacts have increased across the world. 

The diorama was carefully restored by conservators and in 2017 moved to a more prominent place at the entrance of the museum. Its name also was updated as “Lion Attacking a Dromedary” to reflect the actual translation of the piece by its French creator, taxidermist Edouard Verreaux.

During the restoration, a careful inspection and a CT scan found that the courier figure contained an actual human skull and jaw, prompting ethical discussions on whether it was appropriate to display such artifacts. The diorama also included taxidermied animals, including purported specimens of the extinct Barbary lion. 

The exhibit was removed in 2020 in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. Then it was returned in July 2021, but placed behind a curtain with signage warning patrons that the diorama furthered cultural stereotypes, minimized violence, reinforced colonist views, contained inaccuracies and pitted humans against nature. Moreover, the diorama’s creator was known to have robbed the graves of indigenous people to make his pieces. Patrons could go behind the curtain to inspect it privately.

Now the diorama is gone for good, as extinct as the Barbary lions inside it.

THE SNOW GLOBE THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ONCE SOLD OF THE CONTROVERSIAL DIORAMA.

The removal is the result of unanimous approval by the museum’s governance committee of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh’s board of trustees on Aug. 30 on a policy regarding the display of human remains.

“I’m confirming that the diorama is currently off-view and is covered by an opaque vinyl on the glass of the case,” wrote Sloan MacRae, director of marketing and communications for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, in an email Friday. “We extracted the human remains, and the diorama will be permanently removed.”

“While scientific research is integral to the mission of the Museum, this policy acknowledges that human remains were once living, breathing human beings with familial and cultural ties. When possible, the Museum will use informed consent from the individual, their closest living relatives, or representatives of descendant communities as the baseline for permission to exhibit, access, and curate human remains. In cases where the descendant community of the individual is not known or cannot be established, the Museum will engage with ethical stakeholders … to determine how to move forward regarding research, access, and display,” the new policy reads.

MacRae said in an interview that a small sample of the remains is going through stable isotope analysis to determine in what part of the world the person grew up in. The process identifies isotopic  markers in bones and teeth, which can reconstruct foods eaten and population movement. When the geographic area is determined, the museum plans to return the remains to the person’s home country.

Gretchen Baker, director of the natural history museum, told the Tribune Review: “It is first and foremost about human remains. Is it our place to display these items? I think the answer is ‘No.’ My role at this point is to do right by this individual … and return that individual to its homeland.”

“Like policies are living documents, museums are living institutions,” Baker said. “And that often means that exhibitions need to change. Museums are not static. They are a product of their time.”

Museums from across the country are taking similar steps banning the display of exposed human remains.