Short Story: Living Through The Past

The values that built Egypt’s ancient civilisation are still very much in evidence today, writes Hussein Bassir.

Civilisation began in Egypt’s Nile Valley and Delta. The ancient Egyptians, the builders of this unique civilisation, were distinguished for their skill, perseverance, calmness, forbearance, faith and tolerance.

Egypt is also a meeting place for civilisations, a crucible for cultural exchange, and an object of desire for invaders throughout its long history. The names given to the land have been numerous. The name Egypt comes from the ancient term Hutkaptah, meaning “temple of the soul of Ptah”, the god of the ancient capital Memphis. The ancient Egyptians belonged to both the Semitic and Hamitic peoples.

The written story of Egypt begins around 3000 BC. When the legendary king Menes unified Upper Egypt (the south) and Lower Egypt (the Delta) and established a centralised state around 3000 BC, values and standards were introduced that still govern the state of Egypt today.

Egypt then entered the period of the Old Kingdom, the age of the Pyramids, which lasted from 2686 to 2160 BC. During this time, the Egyptians built the Pyramids at Giza and Saqqara, and carved the statue of the Great Sphinx on the Giza Plateau, which represented the Pharaoh Khafre, builder of the Second Pyramid at Giza. These magnificent monuments bear witness to the archaeological, engineering, astronomical and administrative skills of the ancient Egyptians.

After this golden age, Egypt entered a period of decline, before emerging as a powerful force in the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC), the age of Egyptian classical literature. Following this second golden age, the country embarked on the most difficult period in its ancient history, namely the occupation by foreign tribes known as Hyksos, meaning “rulers of foreign lands”.

These crept over the country’s eastern borders and took control of large parts of the land when the Egyptian state was weak. After a long and bitter struggle, the Upper Egyptian Pharaoh Ahmose I (1550-1525 BC) managed to expel the Hyksos from Egypt by driving them into neighbouring Palestine. The New Kingdom, the final golden age of ancient Egypt, was now established.

Egypt adopted a new foreign policy based on expansion and foreign conquest and brought numerous other powers under its control. This period, which lasted until 1069 BC, is known as the age of empire. Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC) is considered the founder of the Egyptian Empire in Asia and Africa, while other famous Pharaohs of this age include Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Seti I, Ramses II and Ramses III….. READ MORE. 

Source: Al-Ahram Weekly

Short Story: A Year of Many Discoveries

Egyptian and foreign Egyptologists excavating at archaeological sites across Egypt have made more than 30 discoveries this year, reports Nevine El-Aref.

Coincidence has always played a major role in making new discoveries. Among the most famous examples are the uncovering of the tomb of the boy-king Tutankhamun on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor, the funerary collection of the Pharaoh Khufu’s mother Hetepheres, the Pyramids Builders’ Cemetery on the Giza Plateau, and the Valley of the Golden Mummies in the Bahareya Oasis.

This year, coincidence led to the discovery of more than 30 treasures, something which made the Ministry of Antiquities describe 2017 as “the year of discoveries”.

“It seems that our ancient Egyptian ancestors are bestowing their blessings on Egypt’s economy, as these discoveries are good for the country and its tourism industry,” Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany told Al-Ahram Weekly.

He said that many new discoveries had been made. In the Gabal Al-Selsela area in Aswan, 20 tombs were discovered by a team from Lund University in Sweden, for example, while in Luxor an Egyptian-Japanese mission discovered the tomb of a royal scribe.

An Egyptian-German mission in Matareya outside Cairo made international headlines when it discovered fragments of a colossal statue of the Pharaoh Psamtick I.

An Egyptian mission from the Ministry of Antiquities discovered the inner parts of a pyramid from the 13th Dynasty, as well as the remains of a burial that would once have been inside the pyramid.

At the Tuna Al-Gabal archaeological site in Minya, a mission from Cairo University stumbled upon a cachette of non-royal mummies of men, women and children buried in catacombs eight metres below ground level in the desert neighbouring the local bird and animal necropolis.

“This discovery has changed our understanding of the Tuna Al-Gabal site,” El-Enany told the Weekly, adding that in Luxor several other important discoveries had been made. An Egyptian-European mission working at the Colossi of Memnon and the funerary temple of Amenhotep III had uncovered 136 statues of the goddess Sekhmet, most of which are life-size, as well as a beautiful alabaster statue of queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep, carved on the side of a colossal statue of the king.

A team from Jaen University in Spain also discovered the tomb of an official in Aswan. A Spanish mission in western Thebes discovered the remains of a funerary garden, a first in the area’s history.

A mission from the Ministry of Antiquities stumbled upon the almost-intact funerary collections of Amenemhat, the goldsmith of the god Amun-Re, and of Userhat, chancellor of Thebes during the 18th Dynasty, in the Draa Abul-Naga Necropolis at Luxor. The mission also uncovered two yet-unidentified tombs that are particularly rich in their funerary collections.

“These finds are not only a matter of luck, but are the result of the hard work of archaeologists across the country working in sometimes very difficult conditions,” El-Enany said. “Antiquities are the soft power that distinguishes Egypt,” he added, remarking that news of new discoveries always catches the headlines and the attention of the whole world.

TOMB DISCOVERIES: Among these discoveries were the three major ones made by the Egyptian mission in the Draa Abul-Nagaa Necropolis on Luxor’s west bank, which provide a better understanding of the history of the Necropolis and the lives of the tomb-owners.

The tomb of Userhat housed a collection of ten well-preserved painted wooden coffins and eight mummies in various states of preservation, for example. A collection of more than 1,000 ushabti figurines and wooden masks were also uncovered alongside with skeletons, wooden anthropoid masks, figurines in faience, terracotta and wood and various clay pots.

Archaeologist Sherine Shawki, a specialist in osteology, told the Weekly that early studies carried out on the mummies and skulls had revealed that one of the individuals had been anaemic and probably suffered severe toothache while a second had undergone primitive surgery.

The tomb of the goldsmith houses a collection of stone-and-wood ushabti figurines of different types and sizes, mummies, painted and anthropoid wooden sarcophagi, and jewellery made of precious and semi-precious stones.....READ MORE.

Source: Al-Ahram Weekly

Back Home, Cyprus: 14 Ancient Egyptian Artifacts Including Amulets, Vase, to Be Returned From Cyprus - Ministry

The objects include an alabaster vase inscribed with King Ramses II's cartouche, and 13 amulets of different shapes, sizes and materials. Written By / Nevine El-Aref.

The Egyptian embassy in Cyprus is set to receive a collection of 14 artefacts that have been stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country within a matter of days, an Egyptian antiquities official has said.

The objects include an alabaster vase inscribed with King Ramses II's cartouche, and 13 amulets of different shapes, sizes and materials. The subjects include the goddesses Sekhmet, Neith, Isis, and the Udjat and Djed symbols. Ushabti figurines are also among the collection.

Shaaban Abdel Gawad, director-general of the Antiquities Repatriation Department, told Ahram Online that the retrieval of these objects started last year when Interpol reported that it had seized a collection of stolen ancient Egyptian artefacts in Nicosia.

The Repatriation Department, he said, carried out its own investigations and discovered that the seized objects were illegally smuggled out of the country after the passing of the Antiquities Law in 1983 and arrived in Cyprus in 1986, which means Egypt has a right of recovery.

In collaboration with Egypt's ministries of foreign affairs, justice and international cooperation, said Abdel Gawad, Cyprus has approved Egypt's right to retrieve the artifacts and they will be returned shortly.

Source: Ahram Online

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Recovered Artifacts, Paris: France to Return 8 Stolen Ancient Egyptian Artifacts on Thursday

Archived Images

During Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s visit to France, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs announced that France is set to return to Egypt eight ancient Egyptian artifacts that were illegally excavated and smuggled from the country.

The artifacts were seized in 2010 after they were found in the possession of a French citizen at a train station in France, a source from Egypt’s antiquities ministry told Ahram Online.

The artifacts were seized after the citizen failed to produce a deed proving ownership, and were sent to the Louvre museum for authentication. The artifacts are to be handed to the Egyptian ambassador to France at a gala ceremony on Thursday. Further details on the nature of the artifacts are expected to be announced after their arrival to Egypt, the source said.

Source: Ahram Online

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News: No Unauthorized Egyptian Artifacts at Louvre Abu Dhabi - Cairo

The Egyptian cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center has denied media reports that Egyptian pharaonic antiquities have been sold or smuggled to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Louvre museum, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel,
surrounded by sea water. The Louvre Abu Dhabi opens
its doors to the public on November 11, 2017

In an official statement on Tuesday, the IDSC said that the antiquities ministry has said that Egypt has not sent any antiquities to make a debut at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, set to be officially inaugurated in November.

Images have been circulating on social media showing a number of Emirati officials inspecting pharaonic antiquities inside the museum, raising speculation that Egypt had given up the items.

The ministry clarified that the antiquities pictured were from archaeological collections already in the Paris Louvre. The Paris branch of the museum currently includes about 50,000 pieces in its Egyptian collection, dating from 4,000 BC to the fourth century AD.

"Egypt has no right to interfere to stop the antiquities from being presented based on the law," the IDSC statement added, pointing that the acquisition of any antiquities by international museums was "legal."

"The antiquities were transferred outside the country legitimately before the issuing of a 1983 law that banned the trade in antiquities," the IDSC said, adding that prior to the passing of the law, countries that conducted excavations in Egypt had the right to have a share in the antiquities found. This is not the first series of denials by officials on the issue.

On Monday, the head of the Egyptian museums department at the antiquities ministry, Elham Saleh, denied the rumors that the Abu Dhabi items had been smuggled out of Egypt, calling on the media to ensure the accuracy of their reports.

Egypt has been making efforts to retrieve smuggled artifacts from foreign countries. It has called upon other countries to prevent illegal exchange, transfer, import or re-export of antiquities within their territories. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is the result of a 2007 agreement between the UAE and France.

Source: Ahram Online

Short Story: Documenting The Palace

The Palace of Prince Omar Tosson in Cairo’s Road Al-Farag district is to be documented for the first time, reports Nevine El-Aref.

In the Road Al-Farag district in Cairo stands the 19th-century Prince Omar Tosson Palace, its architecture largely hidden behind four modern school edifices.

The palace was nationalised after the 1952 Revolution like other former royal palaces and buildings in Egypt, and it was converted into a secondary school. Subsequently it was badly neglected.

The palace was originally built after 1886 and comprises a basement and two upper floors. The basement has a long corridor leading to the Nile Corniche where a yacht was once docked to transport the prince on his journeys outside Cairo.

The first floor has a main hall with several chambers to host visitors, a library, dining rooms, bathrooms, kitchens and rooms for servants. The second floor houses the private rooms of the prince’s family and a special wing for him with separate bathrooms and side rooms.

The palace has two gardens, the first outdoors and the second indoors as a small winter garden. There is a small extension building once used for storage. The ceilings of the rooms in the palace are particularly distinguished, being carved in wood and bearing gilded decorative elements.

The palace was registered on Egypt’s Heritage List of Islamic and Coptic Antiquities in 1984, but it was still badly neglected. Several restoration projects were drawn up, but none was implemented.

However, all this is in the past, as today steps towards the palace’s restoration are being taken by the Ministry of Antiquities and Cairo University’s Construction Engineering Technology Laboratory.

Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, director of the Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the palace project aimed to document it using the latest technology and 3D laser scanning to analyse the architectural and decorative elements of the palace as well as its environment... READ MORE.

Source: Al-Ahram Weekly

News: Egypt World’s Second Fastest Growing Tourist Destination For 2017 - UN World Tourism Organization

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) released a report this week ranking Egypt’s tourism market as the second-fastest growing in the world in 2017, right after Palestine.

Despite UK and Russian flights ban to Egypt since 2015, international tourist arrivals to Egypt witnessed a 51 percent hike this year, following Palestine which ranked in the first position with a 57.8 percent increase in international tourist arrivals this year.

“That hasn’t stopped other nationalities flocking to the country, which has witnessed a 51 per cent spike in international tourist arrivals this year and is on course to welcome nearly eight million holiday travelers in 2017,” the report said, adding that the number is still well below the 14 million who visited in 2010.

Egypt is followed by the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean and Iceland ranks fourth. The latter’s 35 percent surge is thought to be in part due to the popular TV series “Game of Thrones,” which was filmed on the island, and partly thanks to the Icelander policy of offering free stopovers in Iceland to people en route between Europe and North America.

Source: Egypt Independent

News: Egypt Foils Attempt To Smuggle Collection Of Coins From Different Eras

The Seized Atlas & Some Of The Seized Coins

The Archaeological Unit at Egypt’s Red Sea port of Safaga seized 204 coins from different historical eras that were being smuggled from Egypt to Dubai, according to Dr Aymen Ashmawi, head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities.

Ahmed El-Rawi, head of Central Administration of the Archaeological Units in Egyptian Ports, said that the coins include 17 metal coins from the Graeco-Roman era, one from the Umayyad period, two from the Ottoman era and 10 from Khedival Egypt.

Coins from other countries were also seized.

Mohamed Etman, director of the Bahariya Archaeological Unit, said that the unit also confiscated an old Atlas Book from 1922.

Source: Ahram Online

News: 'Cairo Pass' Available For Foreigners to Visit all Archaeological Sites in Cairo And Giza

Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities is now issuing visitor’s passes for foreigners to visit all archaeological sites and museums in Cairo and Giza Governorates. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The “Cairo Pass” costs $80 for foreign tourists and $40 for foreign students, and provides access to Islamic, Ancient Egyptian and Coptic sites for unlimited visits over a five-day period, according member of the Technical Office of the Assistant Minister of Antiquities Mostafa Elsagheer.

Elsagheer says the move comes as part of the ministry’s efforts to promote archaeological sites and increase its financial resources.

The pass can be obtained at the Cultural Relations Department at the ministry headquarters in Zamalek, as well as at ticket outlets at the Giza Plateau, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir and the Citadel of Salah El-Din.

Assistant of the Minister of Antiquities for the Development of Financial Resources Eman Zeidan explains that foreigners can obtain the pass by showing their passport or a student card with picture ID.

Last year, the ministry issued the “Luxor Pass” under two categories.

The first – which costs $200 for tourists and $100 for students – includes all sites and museums in Luxor including the royal tombs of Queen Nefertari and King Seti I.

The second category is half the price and includes all sites excluding the aforementioned royal tombs.

The Annual Visitors Pass, meanwhile, includes all open archaeological sites and museums across Egypt, with several options available. The first is for foreign diplomats and foreigners who work in international and multinational companies in Egypt. The annual pass costs $240 excluding the tombs of Queen Nefertari and King Seti I, and $340 including the two royal tombs.

The annual pass for Egyptians and Arab residents in Egypt to visit all the country’s sites and museums costs EGP 400, or EGP 100 for university students. School trips and Egyptians over 60 are allowed free entry.

Source: Ahram Online

Obituary: William Kelly Simpson

The renowned American Egyptologist and lover of Egypt professor William Kelly Simpson passed away recently at the age of 89. Simpson was a great friend and lover of Egypt. He spent his whole life and distinguished career in the service of Egypt and its monuments, especially those of ancient times.

Simpson was a professor of Egyptology emeritus at Yale University in the US. He was born in New York City and received his BA in 1947, MA in 1948, and PhD in 1954 from Yale University. He was one of the most important public figures at Yale University later in his career.

He first worked in the Egyptian Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Then he obtained a Fulbright fellowship to Egypt and a research fellowship at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. In 1958, he was promoted to professor of Egyptology and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at Yale University. He also served for around 20 years as curator of Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

While in Boston, he increased the museum’s collections tremendously, reinstalled the galleries, and launched excavations and documentation at several sites in Egypt, principally the Giza Pyramids area and in Sudan. He also taught at several US universities, including as the Harvard University Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations and the University of Pennsylvania. He also lectured at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton, the Collège de France in Paris, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. In terms of fieldwork, Simpson was the director of the well-known Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Egypt. He also participated in the UNESCO campaign to rescue the Nubia monuments in Egypt and the Sudan in the 1960s. He was the co-director of very important excavations at Abydos in Upper Egypt and epigraphic missions in the Giza Pyramids area.

He was the author of many books and articles on Egyptian art, archaeology and literature. He co-authored a book on the history of the Ancient Near East and also co-authored, with other scholars, one of the best-known anthologies of ancient Egyptian literature. He was elected to three terms as president of the International Association of Egyptologists and served as president and later chairman of the Board of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, as vice-chairman of the Board of the American University in Cairo, and as trustee of the Archaeological Institute of America and the American Research Centre in Egypt.

In 1965, Simpson was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for the humanities in Near Eastern Studies. He received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Research Centre in Cairo on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 1998. He also received the Award for Distinguished Service from the American University in Cairo and the Medal of Honour for Distinguished Service to Egyptology and Egypt from Farouk Hosni, Egypt’s minister of culture at the time, and the Organising Committee of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists in Cairo in 2000.

In 2001, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the American University in Cairo. In 2003, he was awarded the Augustus Graham Medal by the Brooklyn Museum in the US for services to Egyptology and the museum. He was elected to membership of the American Oriental Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the German and Austrian Archaeological Institutes.

I met professor Simpson several times at the Giza Pyramids area and during the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists in Cairo in 2000. He served the monuments of Egypt, especially the Giza Pyramids and the archaeological remains in Nubia, with unstinting passion, and he also helped many Egyptians to study Egyptology in the US. He was an unfailingly modest and helpful person, as well as an authority on ancient art, archaeology and literature. He served as a major channel between Egypt and the US to the benefit of the two nations and the archaeological and cultural ties between the two countries.

Later this year, Yale University will commemorate the memory of this distinguished person and scholar, and Egypt should do the same for the country’s great friend, professor William Kelly Simpson. Professor Simpson will be very greatly missed, but his multifaceted legacy at all levels between Egypt and the US and among many Egyptians and Americans will last forever.

Source: Al Ahram Weekly

Back Home: Egypt Says It Retrieved 4 Stolen Artifacts From Britain

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced on Tuesday that it has retrieved from the United Kingdom four artifacts that had been stolen and smuggled out of Egypt.

The artifacts have now been restored in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the ministry added in a statement.

Shaaban Abdel Gawad, a ministry official, said that two of the artifacts were displayed at an auction house in the UK while the two other pieces were in the possession of an antiquities dealer in London.

Two of the artifacts were stolen during the security mayhem that prevailed in the wake of the 2011 Uprising, which resulted in the ousting of long-time president Hosni Mubarak, while the other two were stolen in 2013, according to the ministry.

In 2011, Egypt witnessed a period of security chaos during which the rate of antiquities thefts increased by 90 per cent compared to the pre-2011 rate, according to previous statements made by Egyptian officials.

Egypt seeks to regain illegally smuggled antiquities that date back to the pharaonic era.

Source: Middle East Monitor

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Recovered Artifacts, France: Ancient Egyptian Limestone Relief Recovered From Paris

Egypt recovered a limestone relief and a collection of 44 cosmetic containers from France. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities officially received today an ancient Egyptian limestone relief, which has been recovered from France, during a ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Cairo.

Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, the general supervisor of the ministry’s Antiquities Repatriation Department, says that the relief was on display at a Paris auction house. The ministry took all the necessary procedures to stop the sale of the relief and have it withdrawn from the auction.

Abdel-Gawad said that the relief was stolen from a temple at Saqqara necropolis during the 1900s and smuggled out of the country.

The relief, which is dated to the 30th Dynasty during the reign of King Nakhtenbo II, is about 44X50 cm in size and weighs about 80kg.

It is carved in limestone and depicts the goddess Sekhmet carrying the sun disk on top of her head. It has a line of hieroglyphic writing that contains the cartouche of King Nekhtenbo II.

Abdel-Gawad said that the ministry has also received a collection of 44 small and medium-sized artefacts that had been seized at Charles de Gaulle Airport in France.

The collection includes cosmetic and jewellery containers made of beads, ivory, and bone, with some dating from different ancient Egyptian eras, though most are dated to the Coptic era.

Source: Ahram Online

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News: Newport News Museum Receives Ancient Egyptian Artifact

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Mariners’ Museum and Park has received the oldest artifact in the museum’s collection!

Ancient Egyptian Artifact – Oarsman

The ancient Egyptian artifact dates to the Middle Kingdom period (2040-1802 BC) and is a hand-carved, wooden figure depicting a boatman, a museum spokesperson said.

The 6½-inch tall figure displays classic Egyptian features with large, dark-outlined eyes, a cropped black haircut, and a white knee-length covering called a shendyt. 

The boatman is depicted sitting, knees pulled into his body, with long, articulated arms capable of holding an oar.

As one of the oldest maritime cultures in the world, Egypt’s development was primarily centered on the Nile River. The first boats were built around 6,000 BC, and the Egyptians were the first culture in recorded history to employ sails as a method of propulsion.

The Egyptians also built larger wooden vessels for extended riverine travel as well as sturdy craft used for long-distance sea voyages.

By the First Dynasty (3399-2900 BC), Egyptian boats got a greater cultural significance, which led to the development of a third river craft called papyriform used for religious pilgrimages and as funerary barges, a museum spokesperson said.

“The acquisition of this delicate, ancient figure helps further the Museum’s mission of preserving the world’s maritime history,” says Jeanne Willoz-Egnor, the Museum’s Director of Collections Management and Curator of Scientific Instruments. “It enables Museum curators and educators to discuss one of the oldest and most important maritime cultures in the world using an original object.”

The object is currently going through the accessioning process. Currently, there are not any specific plans to display the object, but Museum staff hope to use it for several purposes including educational outreach and general research.

Source: wtkr.com

News: Ismailia Museum Celebrates 83rd Anniversary - Two Monuments To Be Restored

Ismailia museum 

Yesterday, the Ismailia Museum celebrates its 83th anniversary, with further restoration works in the area to be undertaken soon. Written By/ Nevive El-Aref.

In an attempt to promote tourism, the Ministry of Antiquities celebrates yesterday the 83rd anniversary of Ismailia Museum. The celebration was to be inaugurated noon by Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany and Ismailia governor Major General Yassin Taher.

Elham Salah, head of the Museums Department at the ministry, told Ahram Online that the celebration would include a number of sportive activities for children, a lyre (semsemeya) musical performance, and lectures on archaeology. A documentary summarising the history of the museum since its construction in 1934 is to be screened.

Ismailia Museum was the second museum to be constructed in Egypt after the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Cairo. The idea of its establishment started in 1911 when a French mission led by archaeologist Jean Kilda unearthed a collection of sarcophagi at Qantara-East city.

The relief of king Ramses II 

The Sphinx

Ismailia Museum opened in 1934 in a building constructed in a style inspired by the Greco-Roman architecture. The collection displays 3,800 objects from the Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman eras unearthed in the course of construction work on the Suez Canal 1859 and at other sites in Ismailia, Suez and Port Said cities.

Distinguished artifacts such as a collection of statues, scarabs, stelae and columns and records of the first canal built between the Bitter lakes and Bubastis by the Persian ruler Darius are also on show. The highlight of the museum is the large and beautifully preserved Roman floor mosaic depicting Phaedra sending a love letter to her stepson Hippolytus, while below Dionysus rides a chariot driven by Eros.

El-Enany is to also embark on an inspection tour around three monuments in Suez that will soon see restoration works. These monuments are the Mohamed Ali Pasha Palace at Al Khour area in Suez city, the Suez Canal Authority edifice in Ismailia, and the Abbas Helmy II mosque in Ismailia.

Thé Suez Canal Authority building

Ahmed El-Nemr, member of the Scientific Office of the antiquities ministry, told Ahram Online that the Mohamed Ail Palace was built to be Mohamed Ali's residence when following up on army forces during his war against the Wahhabis in the Saudi Arabia. It is a two-storey house with a wooden dome at its eastern roof.

The Suez Canal Authority building was built by Fernand de Lesseps and consists of a basement, a ground floor and a first floor with 120 rooms. The Abbas Helmi II mosque was built in 1898 for Khedive Abbas Helmi II and has a collection of very distinguished arcades.

El-Nemr said that the mosque was restored and inaugurated in 2013, adding that both the palace and the edifice of the Suez Canal Authority are in a very bad state of conservation and that a restoration project for them would be implemented soon.

Source: Ahram Online

Recovered Artifacts, UK: Two More Ancient Egyptian Artifacts Recovered from London

Two ancient Egyptian pieces carved in glass were handed over to Egypt’s embassy in London. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

one of the recovered objects/ photo courtesy of 

the ministry of antiquities

Two ancient Egyptian artifacts carved in glass were recovered on Thursday after being handed over to the Egyptian embassy in London. Both objects were stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country. Shaaban Abdel Gawad, the supervisor-general of the Antiquities Repatriation department, said that both artifacts depict human faces.

The first one was stolen from the storehouses of Al-Qantara East city, after being damaged and looted amid the security vacuum following the January 2011 Revolution.

The second, he said, was stolen from the El-Sheikh Ebada site in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya. With the return of these two objects, Abdel Gawad told Ahram Online, Egypt has in total recently recovered four items.

He continued to explain that the first was a limestone relief that was stolen from Queen Hatshepsut’s temple in El-Deir El-Bahari in Luxor. It was chopped off a wall and illegally smuggled out of the country.

The relief was stolen from the temple in 1975 and resurfaced earlier this month at a small auction hall in Spain, where it was bought by a British antiquities dealer. Two months ago the relief was recovered. The second was an ushabti figurine from Qubet Al-Hawa necropolis store gallery in Aswan and was handed over to the Egyptian embassy in London two days ago.

Source: Ahram Online

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Recovered Artifacts, UK: Ushabti Figurine to Be Recovered From London

The recovered ushabti figurine

A wooden Ushabti figurine stolen from an Aswan storehouse to be returned from London. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The Egyptian embassy in London received a wooden Ushabti figurine that was stolen in 2013 from an Aswan storehouse and illegally smuggled out of the country. The figurine is to be returned to Egypt soon.

Shaaban Abdel Gawad, the head of the antiquities repatriation department at the Ministry of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the Ushabti was uncovered in 2009 by a Spanish archaeological mission in Qubet Al Hawa necropolis in Aswan and was stored among other artifacts in the storehouses.

In 2013, following the departure of the mission, the Aswan storehouse was subjected to looting and the Ushabti figurine was stolen, along with other artifacts. The statuette is 16.5 cm tall and carved in wood with golden decorative elements.

In 2016, Abdel Gawad explained, a curator at the British Museum in London noticed the figurine with a British citizen and reported the incident to the antiquities ministry. After diplomatic negotiations, the Ushabti was recovered and handed to the Egyptian embassy in London.

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

All Previous Posts About Egyptian Museum  Click Here

Our Treasure Abroad, USA: Five Ancient Egyptian Artifacts Smuggled to US Repatriated

Cairo and Washington signed an MoU last month to impose tighter restrictions on the illicit importation of Egyptian antiquities. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Shaaban(left) Inspecting The Newly Arrived Sarcophagus' Lid

Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs repatriated on Monday five late pharaonic-era artifacts  which had been smuggled to, and recently recovered in the US, General Supervisor of the Antiquities Repatriation Department Shabaan Abdel-Gawad told Ahram Online. 

Minister of Antiquties Khaled El-Enany expressed his full appreciation for the efforts of the ministries of foreign affairs and the interior in collaboration with the Ministry of Antiquities and foreign authorities to repatriate the objects and protect Egypt's cultural and archaeological heritage.

Abdel-Gawad said that the objects recovered include a wizened mummified hand, a painted child's sarcophagus, a gilded mummy mask, the lid of a wooden sarcophagus decorated with religious scenes and a painted linen burial shroud.

In early December, Egypt signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States to impose tighter restrictions on the illicit importation of antiquities from Egypt.

According to the MoU, the US government must return to Egypt any material on a designated list of antiquities which are recovered and forwarded to Washington.

Abdel-Gawad said the US government will continue to provide technical assistance in cultural resource management and security to Egypt, as appropriate, under existing and new programmes.

Finally, Egypt should promote best practices in cultural resource management. It should encourage coordination among heritage, tourism and religious authorities, along with development agencies to enforce laws that protect heritage sites from encroachment, unlawful appropriation, looting, and damage.

Source: Ahram Online

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