News, Cairo: Door and Decorative Elements of Sultan Al-Kamel Al-Ayyubi Shrine Stolen

The Sultan Al-Kamel Al-Ayyubi shrine is located within Al-Imam Al-Shafie Dome, one of the largest of the Ayyubid era. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Part of the stolen door. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Antiquities

The Sultan Al-Kamel Al-Ayyubi shrine located inside Al-Imam Al-Shafie Dome was subject to looting today when thieves got inside the shrine after cutting barbed wire that covered its window. Head of the department of Islamic and Coptic antiquities at the Ministry of Antiquities, Al-Saeed Helmi. said that the 70-centimetre tall wooden door of the shrine has been stolen as well as a number of tiny wooden decorative elements.

Helmi told Ahram Online that a detailed report about the theft was sent to Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany who in turn sent the whole case to the prosecutor general for investigation. 

The Tourism and Antiquities Police was also called on site to inspect the shrine and collect any fingerprints that could be found in an attempt to trace the criminals. Al-Imam Al-Shafie Dome is considered as one of the largest of its time, built in 1211 AD during the Ayyubid era to venerate Al-Imam Al-Shafie.

The dome has four shrines with wooden decorative structures: the first for Al-Imam Al-Shafie, the second for the mother of Al-Sultan Al-Kamel, the third for Sultan Al-Kamel, and the fourth for the family of Abdel Hakam, the family who hosted Al-Imam Al-Shafie. Al-Imam El-Shafie was one of the four great imams whose legacy on juridical matters and teaching eventually led to the Shafie school of fiqh.

Source: Ahram Online

Short Story: The NMEC Opens in Cairo

Model of a weaving workshop

A temporary exhibition on the development of Egyptian crafts through the ages is marking the soft opening of the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Overlooking the Ain Al-Sira Lake in the heart of Egypt’s first Islamic capital of Al-Fustat stands the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) with its pyramid-shaped roof. After six years of delay due to budgetary constraints in the aftermath of the 25 January Revolution, the NMEC was partially inaugurated this week with the opening of a temporary exhibition relating the history and development of Egyptian crafts through the ages.

As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press Prime Minister Sherif Ismail was scheduled to officially inaugurate the exhibition along with UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany. Although the work at the NMEC has been proceeding according to the schedule drawn up with UNESCO in 2002 when the foundation stone was laid, construction was put on hold after the revolution.

The museum was originally to be opened in July 2011. Owing to the revolution and funding problems, the opening was delayed. Over the past six years work proceeded slowly, but by 2014 all the construction work had been completed, including the galleries, corridors and exhibition sections as well as labs and storage galleries. Despite still showing some concrete underlay, the building’s floors and staircases are now encased in grey marble and the lighting and security systems all installed.

 A crescent necklace

However, budgetary issues have still prevented the total completion of the museum and its opening to the public. To overcome such obstacles, El-Enany suggested creating a temporary exhibition hall to put on show some of the museum’s planned exhibits to encourage tourism to the NMEC and provide the required funds to open the whole museum.

Over the last six months work on the two levels hosting the temporary exhibition “Egypt’s Crafts through the Ages” has been at full swing to meet the opening deadline. Workers have been organising artefacts inside showcases, while others have been inserting graphics on the theme of the exhibition design. Curators have been fixing labels on each display.

“I am very happy and proud to say that a part of my dream has now come true,” El-Enany told the Weekly, referring to this week’s partial opening. He added that between 2014 and 2016 he had been honoured to have been the supervisor of the NMEC project.

“In this capacity, I have seen first-hand the hard work and dedication of the museum staff and the ministry employees in making the museum’s debut exhibition a reality and a successful one at that. I take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work,” El-Enany said, explaining that the newly opened exhibition was only a sampler of many more exciting endeavours to come.

“I hope every visitor will enjoy the exhibition and stay tuned to all of the NMEC’s future projects,” he said. The exhibition, El-Enany added, embodied what the NMEC as a museum and an institution aims to highlight: the material culture of a long-standing, diverse and advanced civilisation. It reflects both the continuity of traditions and the innovation of technologies in Egypt.

 Mabrouk and El-Enany inspecting the latest work at the exhibition hall before

 the opening

El-Enany said that the chosen crafts for the new exhibition were particularly relevant to the museum’s surrounding area, which has long been a hub of woodworking, textile production, jewellery making and pottery manufacturing. “Although the inauguration marks the opening of a single temporary exhibition to the public, the NMEC is a much larger entity than that, with rich galleries covering a plethora of themes in addition to being an extensive scientific research centre and cultural hub,” El-Enany said.

He announced that in order to celebrate the NMEC’s soft opening, the museum would offer admission to visitors free of charge beginning on 16 February and continuing through the end of the month. Photographs and videos for TV channels would be free of charge in the same period, he said.

“Craft production in Egypt has a long and rich history that over time has been continuously refined, incorporating new techniques and raw materials to create a treasure trove of exquisite masterpieces, many of which survive to this day,” Mahmoud Mabrouk, the exhibition designer, told the Weekly.

He said that the choice of crafts for the first temporary exhibition held at the NMEC boded well, with the location of the museum in Al-Fustat being known for its rich tradition of crafts. The area around the museum hosts a centuries-old pottery production community, and pottery producers and vendors line the main streets leading to the Museum.... READ MORE.

Source: Al Ahram Weekly

News, Cairo: UNESCO Director General Visits Cairo's Newly Restored Museum of Islamic Art

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova visited the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Tuesday evening, to tour the newly restored and re-opened facility. Ahram Online.

Accompanied by Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany, Bokova extended her 45-minute planned tour to 90 minutes to see the work which went into restoring the museum, which was badly damaged by a car bomb explosion in 2014 that targetted the adjacent Cairo Governorate Police Security Directorate.

El-Enany said that Bokova’s visit to Egypt and the MIA serves as a message to the world that it's time to visit Egypt, which he said has stood firm in the fight against terrorism. “The reopening of MIA embodies Egypt’s success in opposing terrorism and violence,” the minister said.

Bokova described the restoration work as “great” and said it "succeeded in returning the MIA to its original allure." “The work also shows dedicated international cooperation to rescue one of Egypt’s distinguished monuments,” Bokova added.

UNESCO, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Switzerland as well as other international museums, institutes and NGOs contributed to the museum's restoration.

“The MIA is an emblem of Islam and its contributions to history, culture, science, art and medicine,” Bokova said. Bokova gifted the MIA library with a series of seven books about the history of Islam and its historical contributions. 

The series, published in English, was compiled by UNESCO over the last 40 years. Bokova and El-Enany are set to open Wednesday evening the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC).

Source: Ahram Online

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News, Cairo: National Museum of Egyptian Civilization Opens Temporary Exhibit, Free Admission

The museum's soft-opening will showcase "Crafts and Industries through the Ages" in Egypt, offering free admission 16-28 February. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Under the name "Crafts and Industries through the Ages" the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) is set to open its first temporary exhibition Wednesday evening, showcasing the history of four crafts in Egypt: clay, jewellery, textiles and wood. The opening will be attended by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

On a tour of the exhibition Monday, Egypt's Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany told Ahram Online that to celebrate the NMEC's soft opening the museum will offer free admission from 16 through 28 February. Mahmoud Mabrouk, the exhibition's designer, said the museum will showcase a collection of 400 artefacts selected from Cairo's Egyptian Museum, Coptic Museum, Museum of Islamic Civilization and Al-Manial Palace Museum, as well as Alexandria's Jewellery Museum and NMEC storage.

Final preparations for Wednesday's opening are currently underway. "The exhibition will bring to life the continuation and development of ancient crafts into modern times through graphics, multimedia electronic guides and a documentary screening," Mabrouk said.

The most important artefacts, Mabrouk said, will be a collection of prehistoric clay pots, the royal chair of Hetep-Heres, mother of King Khufu, and a small ancient Egyptian stool carved from 120 wooden pieces. A Qabbati robe textile and set of Islamic doors decorated with foliage and geometric designs with ivory are also among the distinguished items to be displayed, along with jewellery from Siwa, Nubia, Upper and Lower Egypt.

Saeed Mahrous, NMEC Supervisor-General told Ahram Online "This exhibition is a step toward the NMEC’s third and final stage along the road to opening; it includes the museum’s 23,000 square metre exhibition hall.” “The exhibition will be organised by the chronology and geography of the artefacts,” Saeed added.

Plans to create the NMEC began in 1982 and construction finished in 2009. In 2000 a location on Lake Ain Al-Sira in Fustat was selected and in 2002 the large, square foundation stone — the platform of the building's stylised pyramid design — was installed.

When it opens fully to the public, the museum will display a collection of 50,000 artefacts from different eras in Egyptian history from the pre-dynastic through the modern age. The site houses a number of high-tech storage galleries, as well as a state-of-the-art security system, much like its counterparts the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris.

Source: Ahram Online

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Opening Soon, Cairo: Hunting Museum Reopens in Manial Palace

After a decade of closure, the Hunting Museum in Manial Palace is to be reopened soon. Written By/ Nevien El-Aref.

Mummified gazelle heads

In the arched corridor beneath the walls of the Manial Palace in Cairo where the Hunting Museum is located, curators, restorers, designers and workers are all racing against the clock to reach the deadline for the museum’s reopening.

Armed with yellow helmets and grey gloves, workers are putting the showcases in position, while restorers with their white gowns and technical tools are installing a skeleton of a camel that once transported the Kaaba cover, a vast piece of embroidery, from Cairo to Mecca in the early 1900s.

“Work is at full swing,” Elham Salah, head of the Museums Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that the Hunting Museum was scheduled to be officially reopened in mid-February during the mid-term school holiday after a decade of closure.

She said that when Manial Palace was officially inaugurated in 2013 after restoration work, the Hunting Museum was not among the halls that were opened to public. Last month, with a budget of LE140,000 provided by the Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project, the Museums Department began the renovation and restoration of the museum in order to open it to the public during the mid-term holiday.

Salah and Badawi inspecting the displaying scenario

The museum displays preserved animals, birds and skeletons from the collection of former King Farouk and Princes Mohamed Ali Tewfik and Youssef Kamal collected during their hunting trips. “Among the most beautiful and unique collection on display is the butterfly collection of prince Mohamed Ali Tewfik, the former owner of Manial Palace,” Salah said, adding that the collection consisted of 7,000 butterflies. 

Sameh Al-Masri, the designer of the museum’s galleries, has brought the aura of the jungle into the galleries of the Hunting Museum, Salah said, adding that the roar of lions, sound of chickens, screech of eagles, and trumpeting of elephants would echo on the audio system. Visual effects would be used to suggest something of the ambiance in which the objects on display were collected.

Walaa Badawi, director of the Manial Palace, told the Weekly that the story of the museum started after the 1952 Revolution when an inventory was carried out of the property of members of Egypt’s former royal family.

When the committee in charge of the inventory detected a large collection of animals and birds, a section of the arched corridor beneath the palace walls was transformed into a Hunting Museum with 15 galleries displaying 10,000 animals and birds from the collection of former King Farouk, who was very fond with hunting, and princes Youssef Kamal from his palace in Matariya and Mohamed Ali Tewfik in Manial Palace.

The museum was inaugurated in 1963, closing in 2007 for restoration. Even after the reinauguration of the palace, the museum remained closed, however. “In 2015, I took the initiative to call for the restoration of the Hunting Museum as it is unique of its kind in Egypt,” Badawi said. Funds were found earlier this year, and restoration work started by restorer Manal Abdel-Moneim and her team. Some of the animals were in bad condition due to temperature and humidity fluctuations, but much of the damage was reversibl......READ MORE.

Source: Ahram Online

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News, Cairo: Temporary Exhibit On Religion in Egypt to Be Inaugurated Thrusday at Egyptian Museum

The 'Egypt, The Cradle of Religions' exhibit will be inaugurated tonight at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany will inaugurate Thursday evening the “Egypt, the Cradle of Religions” temporary exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir. The exhibition comes as part of the ministry’s framework to organise a series of temporary exhibits in an attempt to raise cultural and archaeological awareness.

Elham Salah, the head of the Museums Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, said that the exhibition put on show a collection of 57 artefacts that were carefully selected from the Egyptian Museum, the Coptic Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art.

The exhibition aims to shed light on religion in Egypt since ancient times; from the monotheistic era of King Akhenaten to the appearance of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Among the objects on display are the Terracotta head of the oldest ancient Egyptian deity discovered in Beni Salama, the statue of priest Hotep Di If from the third ancient Egyptian dynasty, a relief of King Akhenaten and his family worshipping the god Aten, and a relief of the goddess Isis and the god Harpocrat from the Greaco-Roman era.

Wooden boxes that were used as holders of the Torah and religious silver pots are also among the objects on display, as well as icons depicting the Virgin Mary and Jesus during their voyage to Egypt, and a copy of the Holy Quran and a silver Islamic-era chandelier decorated with foliage ornaments.

Six Islamic-era lamps recently recovered after being stolen from Cairo’s Al-Refai Mosque will be on special display within the exhibition, as well as items that were recently seized in Egyptian ports before they could be smuggled abroad.

Source: Ahram Online

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Re-Opening, Cairo: Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art to Open Friday After Two-Year Closure

The museum, badly damaged in a car bomb explosion in 2014, was inaugurated Wednesday by President Sisi and other top officials. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Qur'an - ink on parchment, Abbasid 9th century

Egypt's Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in downtown Cairo's Bab El-Khalq area is set to open its doors to visitors Friday after two years of closure for restoration and repair.

On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany inaugurated the museum, in a ceremony attended by other top officials. The museum will offer admission to visitors free of charge beginning Friday 20 January, and continuing through Saturday the 28th.

The MIA sustained severe damage in January 2014 when a car bomb exploded outside the adjacent Cairo Security Directorate building. The blast destroyed the façade of the building, several columns, display cases and artifacts, as well as the nearby Egyptian National Library and Archives building.

In 2015, nearly a year after the blast, Cairo received a grant of EGP 50 million from the United Arab Emirates to restore the museum, in collaboration with Egyptian and foreign experts from Italy, Germany and the United States.

wooden Islamic boxes and tables

The UNESCO donated $100,000 for the restoration of the museum’s laboratories, while the Italian government contributed €800,000 to purchase new display cases and provide training courses to the museum’s curators.

The American Research Centre in Cairo, in collaboration with the Swiss government, contributed EGP 1 million to restore the museum’s façade. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, as well as the Metropolitan Museums in New York, Germany and Austria assisted with trainings for the MIA's curators and restorers.

“The inauguration of the MIA embodies Egypt’s victory against terrorism, its capability and willingness to repair what terrorism has damaged, and to stand against terrorist attempts to destroy its heritage,” El-Enany said at the opening ceremony.

On Thursday, the museum will host a musical ceremony to celebrate the opening, and allow media in to photograph the new and restored exhibits. Elham Salah, head of the Museums Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the façade, building and halls of the MIA have been restored with state-of-the-art security and lighting systems installed. Some aspects of the layout have changed, he added.

metal pots and pans

The souvenir hall, previously located in the centre of the museum has been moved to the end of the visitors’ path in the museum garden. A hall displaying Islamic coins and weapons has been added, along with a hall for Islamic manuscripts. One hall showcases the daily life of Egyptians throughout the Islamic age, including instruments and children’s toys.

MIA Director Ahmed El-Shoki said the artifacts which were "damaged in the explosion, and which have been restored, are integrated into the new displays, but distinguished by a golden label placed beside them.”

The blast damaged 179 pieces, 169 of which were completely restored while 10 pieces, all carved in glass, were found to be beyond repair. Among the most important artifacts lost were a rare decorated Ayyubid jar and an Omayyad plate carved in porcelain.

The MIA is home to an exceptional collection of rare woodwork and plaster artifacts, as well as Islamic era metal, ceramic, glass, textile and crystal pieces from all over the world. The museum is housed in a two-story building, with the first floor open to visitors displaying 4,400 artifacts in 25 galleries.

Source: Ahram Online

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News, Cairo: Royal Golden Ring Stored In Egyptian Museum Not Stolen As Claimed

The Ministry of Antiquities denies claims on social media about the disappearance of a royal golden ring stored in the Egyptian Museum. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The Golden Ring

Elham Salah, head of the Museums Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, has told Ahram Online that claims published on social media that an ancient royal golden ring has been stolen from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square are "unfounded." The ring remains in the store galleries of the museum.

Salah explained that the ring was among items selected to be on display in a special temporary exhibition in 2002 inside the museum, along with other objects from the museum's collection and artifacts from the store galleries of Saqqara and the Giza Plateau. Regretfully, Elham continued, the ring was not put on show and returned to the store galleries.

A few days ago, a researcher reportedly arrived to the museum and asked to examine the ring. The museum's curator asked the researcher to give them time to remove the ring from its wooden box in the store gallery, while most curators at time were busy filing an inventory of all the museum's treasured collection.

Rumors apparently started on social media saying that the ring had disappeared having been stolen. An archaeological committee was then formed to open the box and photograph the ring in order to prove that the ring is safe in the museum's galleries and is not stolen as claimed.

Source: Ahram Online

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News, Cairo: Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Features Coptic Artifacts at Entrance for Coptic Christmas

The Six Artifacts on Display at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir

The six Coptic artifacts are the Egyptian Museum’s January Pieces of the Month. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir has put on display six Coptic-era artifacts at its entrance as the January Pieces of the Month in celebration of the Coptic Christmas on 7 January.

Sabah Abdel-Razak, director-general of the Egyptian Museum, explains that the artifacts were carefully selected from the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo and include two pieces of Coptic textiles and three wood carvings.

The first piece of textile has overlapping decorations colored in beige and brown with a cross in the middle.

The second is part of a Coptic robe with plants and geometric decorations, colored in black, dark beige and red. Its lower part ends with tassels colored with blue and gray.

The first of the three wood carvings is decorated with images of an angel, a saint holding a book, and the Virgin Mary carrying the baby Jesus.

The second carving is gilded and decorated with the image of two saints; Irene, whose name means peace, and Foteine, meaning the bright one. An image of Christ is depicted in the middle, with the names of all three written in Greek above each image. The third carving depicts the Virgin Mary carrying the baby Jesus and has a metal cover with ancient Russian writing.

Source: Ahram Online

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