Regarding Simfan's posts on this page: As I said recently in another thread, at least we can trust the people in charge of Iran not to bulldoze Persepolis to build a parking garage or something.
Well, that may certainly be true nowadays, but it's not for lack of trying by some. However it certainly does not compare to the apparently serious consideration currently being given to the idea of demolishing the tomb of Muhammad and re-interring him in an unmarked grave (as king Abdullah has been), an idea endorsed by the Saudi Grand Mufti and the late khatib of the Masjid al-Haram, and something Wahabists have been trying to do since the early 19th century.
The Wahabis already destroyed most of the artifacts of the Prophet's time: Muhammad's birthplace, his house in Medina, the tombs of his mother (which they doused in gasoline and burnt), father, wives, and daughter, to name a few. From a historiographical perspective it is a tremendous loss, an act of mass vandalism; from a religious perspective the toll must be incalculable. I'm surprised that you don't hear more about it, even from Islamic sources. It's the same thing al-Qaeda did in Bamiyan, Ansar Dine in Timbuktu, and what Da'esh is now doing in Iraq and Syria, and for the same reason.
There should be some sort of competition for the Middle Eastern country that is worst at taking care of its heritage. Egypt's ineptitude since 2011 has also been pretty horrifying. And this just is pure slapstick.
Developing world antiquities ministries handle national artifacts in about the same way a for-profit corporation would -- run things quick, cheap and dirty; nickel and dime the tourists to death and assume most of them are too dumb or in too much of a hurry to know the difference or complain.
Comparing, say, the National Parks Service to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities is like comparing a marine biology research facility to Sea World.
