Showing posts with label the Ministry of Antiquities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Ministry of Antiquities. Show all posts

Monday, November 2, 2020

News Egypt "2" : Historic day for Egypt’s tourism as 3 museums opened at once: Al-Anani.

Saturday was a historic day for Egypt’s tourism industry, as three important museums inaugurated in one day, according to Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled Al-Anani.
The minister’s remarks came during President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s inauguration of the museums, which are the Sharm El-Sheikh Museum, the Kafr El-Sheikh Museum, and the Royal Carriages Museum in Cairo. Combined, the establishment of the new museums cost nearly EGP 1bn.
During his speech, Al-Anani reviewed the state’s efforts in the field of museum sector, development and restoration of archaeological sites, and archaeological missions in Egypt. 
The minister also presented the working plan for the museums that were inaugurated on Saturday.

Sharm El-Sheikh Museum
Al-Anani said that the Sharm El-Sheikh Museum is the first museum of antiquities in the Red Sea resort.
The idea of establishing the museum, located on an area of 191,000 sqm, dates back to 1999. Work on the project began in 2003, before stopping in 2011 during the 25 January Revolution. Work on the EGP 812m museum then resumed in 2018.
The museum includes three halls for displays, in addition to an entertainment area that includes a number of restaurants, bazaars, traditional crafts shops, an open theatre and squares for celebrations and events.

Kafr El-Sheikh Museum
The minister said that the Kafr El-Sheikh Museum is the first museum of antiquities in the ancient governorate.
The idea of establishing the museum dates back to 1992, after Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate allocated a 6,800 sqm plot of land inside the Sana’a Park.
This would be used to establish a national museum documenting cultural heritage, and aims to spread archaeological and cultural awareness of the Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate’s heritage, and for the nearby governorates.
The construction work on the museum began in 2002, but was stopped in 2011, before being completed in 2018. 
This took place after a cooperation protocol between the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate was signed in 2017, with the total cost of the project reaching EGP 62m.
The museum consists of three main exhibition halls, displaying artefacts from the excavations at the Tell Al-Faraeen archaeological area, in addition to other archaeological areas from Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate.

Royal Carriages Museum
Al-Anani also spoke of the opening of the restoration and development project for the Royal Carriages Museum.
It is considered one of the oldest quality museums in the world and one of the most important vehicle museums in the world.
The idea of ​​establishing the museum dates back to the reign of Khedive Ismail in the second half of the 19th Century. During this period, a building was designated for Khedivial chariots and horses in Bulaq, and was initially called the Khedivial Stirrup Department.
During the reign of King Fuad I, the building was renamed the Administration of the Royal Stables. The building was converted into a historical museum after the July 1952 revolution.
In 2002, the museum was closed to commence with an integrated restoration and development project, but the project ground to a halt in 2011.
Work resumed again in 2018. The museum, which cost a total of EGP 63m, covers a total area of 6175 sqm, and consists of several halls.
Al-Anani affirmed that work resumed at the three museums following a years-long hiatus since 2011, based on presidential directives.
There has been an emphasis on giving utmost importance to all projects for the maintenance, restoration and security of Egyptian antiquities, and the development and establishment of major and regional museums.

News Egypt: Egypt's President Sisi re-opens 3 museums after coming to a halt in 2011.

Khaled el-Enany, Egypt's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, gave a speech during President Abd El-Fatah El-Sisi’s inauguration of three new museums in three different governorates Saturday.
They are the museums of Sharm El-Sheikh, Kafr El-Sheikh and the Royal Chariots museum in Cairo. 
This emphasizes the unprecedented support Egypt gives to the tourism and antiquities sector. 
In addition to showcasing Egypt’s unparalleled history and civilization through the establishment of museums that tell the story of this unique civilization and its different historical eras. 
Enany, said in his word "that today is an exceptional day in the history of Egyptian tourism and antiquities, as 3 important museums are opened in the governorates of Sharm El-Sheikh, Kafr El-Sheikh and Cairo, at a cost of nearly L.E 1 billion."
During the speech, the minister implored the state’s efforts in museum projects, development and restoration of archaeological sites and archaeological work in Egypt.
In addition to that, he presented the work progress of the three museums that were inaugurated. 
Enany pointed out that the Sharm El-Sheikh Museum is the first museum of antiquities in the picturesque coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh. 
He added that work started in the museum in 2003 and then stopped in 2011. He said that Kafr El-Sheikh Museum too, is the first museum of antiquities in the ancient governorate of Kafr El Sheikh, stating work started in it in 2002 and then stopped in 2011.
Enany talked about the opening of the restoration and development project of the Royal Carriages Museum, which is one of the oldest museums in the world and one of the most important carriage museums in the world.

Moreover, he said that its restoration and development project started back in in 2002 and that it stopped in 2011. 
The minister further said that work was resumed in the three museums due to the directives of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, after it was halted for years since 2011.
He added that the president directed the government to give all projects of maintenance, restoration, preservation and protection of Egyptian monuments, in addition to the development and establishment of major and regional museums utmost importance.
In addition, Enany explained that "today’s openings show the political and financial support the political leadership gives to preserving the heritage and antiquities of Egypt; and to building and developing museums."
He also said that the resumption of work in all antiquities and museum projects, that have been suspended for years, contributes to providing a diverse tourism infrastructure in all governorates. 
In addition to that, it creates new tourist attractions and offerings. Those diversified offerings cater the various interests of tourists.
He added that Sharm El Sheikh Museum and Hurghada Museum, both offer visitors and tourists a unique experience and an opportunity to enjoy Egypt’s beautiful beaches and at the same time learn about the ancient Egyptian civilization; mixing leisure and culture. 
The minister concluded his speech by reiterating that the museums that were opened will contribute to increasing the tourism in addition to archaeological awareness of Egyptians, especially children and youth, to get to know the rich and unique civilization of their country. 
After the opening of the Sharm El-Sheikh Museum, the minister took a memorial photo with all the museum employees in appreciation of their relentless efforts to carry through work in the the museum until its official opening became a reality.

Source:egypttoday

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

News, Esna: Egypt’s city of Esna is slowly regaining its glory amid renewed interest in its heritage.

Egypt’s city of Esna is slowly regaining its glory amid renewed interest in its heritage
The Ministry of Antiquities and an urban development company, with US funding, are advancing a major project to revive tourism in the city of Esna in Luxor governorate, by not only promoting its ancient heritage but also by implicating the locals.
The city of Esna, located on the banks of the Nile River just 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the south of Luxor, is undergoing an ambitious project to document and preserve some of its key heritage sites. The work aims to reposition the city as an important cultural destination on Egypt’s tourist map and pave the way for its economic development and sustainable revitalization.
Rediscovering Esna’s Culture Heritage Assets (RECHA) project is being implemented by the urban development company Takween along with the Ministry
of Antiquities and Luxor governorate, and is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). 
The program started in 2016, but has been presented to the public this year and its first tourist promotion video was released Sept. 28, on World Tourism Day.
“It is a project where we are trying to test a model to see [how] provincial cities like Esna can capitalize on their cultural assets, both tangible and intangible.
And how these can become an agent for economic development in the city,” Kareem Ibrahim, CEO and co-founder of Takween and RECHA’s project director, told Al-Monitor.
The history of Esna dates back to the Pharaonic era, when it stood as the capital of one of Egypt’s regions at the time.
The city remained important for over 2,000 years as a hub of trade and commerce that left behind assets and wealth of the Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Coptic, Islamic and modern eras. 
Its prominence, however, started to fade at the beginning of the 20th century with the rise of Luxor as a major tourist destination in the country, in a process that eventually led to its gradual deterioration before being forgotten.
Today, Esna stands as a frequent stop for Nile cruises given that its city center is home to the Temple of Esna, dedicated to the ancient deity Khnum.
Its construction began during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt and was completed during the Ptolemaic and Roman period. Esna is also famous for its barrage bridges, including the now-obsolete one built in 1906 by the British and the modern Electricity Bridge from the 1990s.
Yet Ibrahim said that the current tourism model has a very limited impact on local residents, given the little interaction between them and tourists.
To change this dynamic, RECHA has been primarily devised as an urban development project that initially focuses on locals rather than on tourists.
This way, the project aims to first integrate residents, improve their living conditions and bring economic benefits for them, and with the intention that this will ultimately make it appealing for tourists as well.
“The problem is that in Egypt you have large numbers of tourists and revenues, but what really stays with the local communities is minimal,” Ibrahim said. “In places like Esna tourists go to the temple, buy a ticket and leave, so whether you have 40,000 or 1 million visitors a year, it does not really matter. We are trying to change that.”

The most important building that the project has aimed to preserve is the 18th century Wakalat al-Jiddawi, a two-story building that used to work as a caravanserai and stands today as a witness and representative of Esna’s commercial importance and its thriving economic life in the 18th and the 19th centuries. 
The building, listed as a monument in the 1950s but never properly restored, is located in the intersection of the city that overlooks the street of the bazar and the Khnum Temple. It can become a tourist and social center.
RECHA has also restored facades of about 10 other significant buildings, which are not listed as monuments, in an attempt to draw the attention of locals, government officials and visitors alike.
Finally, the project has also restored parts of Al-Qasareya Street, which is a typical, mostly covered street that runs from north to south and holds most of the city’s economic activity. Before the intervention, more than half of the more than 110 shops in Al-Qasareya — which is famous for its fabrics, sewing tools and tailor shops — remained closed. 
But Ibrahim said that people are starting to reinvest and visit the area again.
“The market [before the renovation] was not very busy and most customers were afraid to come because the street was not paved, the market was not well lit and its wooden ceiling was [about] to fall,” said Adel al-Ansari, the owner of a clothing store located on Al-Qasareya who renovated his shop at the same time when the area was restored.
“After the restoration the situation became different and safer. [Now] it is much better.
There is a boom, which will encourage more people to work and open shops that were closed,” Ansari told Al-Monitor, explaining that he himself is planning to expand his shop and buy another one.
Other hidden gems from Esna that RECHA aims to capitalize on are the city’s corniche, where its old barrage and some of its most notable historical buildings and palaces stand, as well as the city center, home to several other significant buildings and street vendors. 
Another remarkable site in the area is the only oil press that still remains in Esna from the more than 30 presses that used to work in the city over the past two centuries.
“The importance of the project lies in the preservation of the remaining architectural heritage [of the city],” Ahmed Hassan, head of the Esna and Armant areas at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, told Al-Monitor. 
“The second goal is to make tourist visits longer; instead of tourists just visiting the temple [encourage them] to visit other buildings that are being restored around the city.”
The project is working on management plans to define the future use of the different sites that have been preserved, and it is also developing a tourist map of the city for marketing and promotional purposes.
RECHA has received funding to keep working until 2024.
“Before we got involved it was only the temple that was known. There was nothing else,” Ibrahim said. “What we are trying to do is to show that the city has a lot to offer, just like many other cities in Egypt.”
He added, “If given the right care and attention, Esna can become a multidestination site, rather than a single destination one."
As part of its efforts to preserve and foster Esna’s intangible activities in order to maintain its local environment, RECHA is also conducting different workshops to build the human capacity of locals. 
These put a special emphasis on tourism and on the skills of craftsmen. They have already encouraged partnerships between the city administration, businessmen from the area and locals.
“During [one of] these workshops we conducted field visits; we were trained as tourist guides and on how to deal with different age groups to deliver information in a suitable manner,” said Rehab Mukhtar Abdel Haris, a graduate of Egyptian archaeology at South Valley University who participated in a workshop and has already led several school trips on guided tours within Esna.
She told Al-Monitor that the handicraft workshops devoted to housewives and girls who have not completed their studies are also “very useful” given that “they can practice these crafts at home” and sell them.
“It is a 360-degree program,” Ibrahim said. “We are focusing on physical, marketing and economic components, and on the human capital, to give a boost to the city.”
 Source:al-monitor

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

New Egyptian Discovery: 3,300-Year-Old Egyptian Hairstyles Revealed They Wore Extensions.


Many women these days view their hair as a kind of accessory with which to play, changing its look, colour and even length depending on the season, their outfit, and whether they are feeling casual or sombre, or they’re just in the mood for a different look.
Hairstyles are part of fashion, every bit as important to a woman’s look as the shoes she wears or the purse she carries.
Nowadays, even women with short hair aren’t prevented from wearing a long, curly look – they simply add extensions and give their appearance a whole new vibe.
Most women today imagine that extensions (and other changes they can make) are recent innovations, a far cry from their grandmother’s day, when the only option was a bottle of peroxide, and that was only if they wanted to look like a bombshell movie star. 
Choices in those days, say 75 years ago, were truly limited, at least when it came to colour.
But as the saying goes, nothing on this earth is really new. And the ancient Egyptians, a truly advanced and sophisticated group, proved that repeatedly with everything from burial techniques that preserved bodies to hairstyles, colours and curls.


What we do now in expensive salons, techniques stylists imagine are cutting edge, are in fact as much as 3,300 years old, thanks to the Egyptians. Even extensions, which celebrities like Kim Kardashian tout as modern and fun, were worn by many women in ancient Egypt, and they were even buried wearing them, too.
Take the cemetery at the city of El-Amarna, for example. The cherished archaeological site, which has been undergoing exploration and excavation since 1977, revealed in 2014 examples of women who, thousands of years ago, wore intricate updos, extensions and even skull caps.
One skull was found six years ago with about 70 hair extensions still attached, and experts worked to recreate exactly what the Egyptian mummified body would have looked like when alive – hairdo intact.
The ongoing project is done by the Institute of Archaeological Research of Cambridge University in England, with the support and permission of the Ministry of Antiquities in Egypt.
The hairdos found indicate that women of ancient Egypt favoured complicated styles, ones that featured a variety of layers and lengths.
Several Egyptian skulls are so well preserved that archaeologists can get a clear, comprehensive picture of what trends and colours were fashionable back then. One skull shows that henna was likely used to cover grey hair on one woman, thereby giving her a more auburn shade, and probably a more youthful appearance.
These skulls and remains may be more than 3,000 years old, but the motivations behind the women’s choices were, it’s fair to say, timeless and still prevalent.


The Amarna Project continues to pull back the curtain on this ancient city, which citizens abandoned after the death of the pharaoh who built it.
The site consists of several zones, one of which is called Central City, where administration buildings, temples and palaces were built when the city was first constructed.
The pharaoh, Akhenaten, ruled from approximately 1353 until 1335 B.C. Historians say his greatest impact on his people was a change to their religion, moving it more fully to worshipping the sun.
Building Amarna was in keeping with those beliefs, but once the pharaoh passed away, citizens felt less compelled to stay in this city in the desert.
The Amarna Project continues to reveal much about ancient Egypt, its practices, religious beliefs and societal norms.
Another Article From Us: Tutankhamun Dagger Was Made From a Meteorite
The women with these remarkable hairstyles are just one more piece of the puzzle, the puzzle that teaches so much about Egypt’s past, but also about its present and, perhaps, about its future. 



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