In Celebration of Coptic Art

Published during week of December 9-15, 2010 | Al-Ahram Weekly Online | by Nevine El-Aref | Excerpt:

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said Coptic Art Revealed was the first locally- curated exhibition on Coptic art. It focuses on the splendours of the Coptic era and highlights the Copts' outstanding contribution to Egypt's diverse and rich heritage. The exhibition includes several painted icons by renowned artists as well as beautiful textiles; illuminated manuscripts; an excerpt from the famous Nagaa Hammadi scrolls; stone and wooden friezes with intricate Coptic designs and splendid objects for daily use.

Remaking History’s Shelves: SCA's Plan for New Museums

Accessed February 14, 2010 | Egypt Today | by Michael Kaput | This article is an overview of the SCA's ongoing and future plans to develop and restore museums to create better areas for housing the nation's antiquities, which have been in dire need of an appropriate and safe environment to be showcased. Here is an excerpt:

The building that houses the office in charge of the nation’s museums at the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) downtown is grand but half-finished. With some work, it could be truly magnificent. Whether that work gets done anytime soon is anyone’s guess. The same could be said about the SCA’s colossal undertaking to give the country’s staggering collection of artifacts a new showcase.

Flush with ticket revenue from international exhibitions and local tourist sites, the SCA is in the midst of a project that will see 20 new museums covering every governorate, and long-closed favorites re-opening to the public over the next five years. More than just cash cows feeding on tourist dollars, however, the new museums are also hope to reconnect Egyptians with their own heritage, in their own neighborhoods.

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Part of the SCA’s plan is to air out the museum, transferring more than 20 percent of the objects, including the famed royal mummies, to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in El Fustat, due to open in two years. King Tutankhamun’s treasures will be moved to the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) being built at the Giza Plateau, which the Museum Sector head confirms is on schedule to open in five years.

Museums in Alexandria - Zahi Hawass' Visit and Lecture

Originally published October 7, 2009 | Zahi Hawass' Blog | by Dr. Hawass

A Day in Alexandria

Originally published July 16, 2009 | Zahi Hawass' Blog | by Zahi Hawass

Last week I went to Alexandria to see the work currently taking place to improve the museums there, and to get an update on the current status of these various projects. When I first became Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities many of the museums in Alexandria were run-down, and so I decided that they needed to be closed for renovation, in order to improve them and to turn them into world class museums. Many people did not want the museums to be closed, but I told them that they needed to be fixed and that action needed to be taken immediately.