Les charmes de l'Orient

By Nevine El-Aref

According to Gaballa A. Gaballa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the first exhibition, entitled "The Fatimids: Fascination of the Orient", has been designed to present "a peak of Arab culture in the Near East whose influence extended as far as central Asia and Spain."

Some 230 objects are on display, covering various aspects of this brilliant civilisation, including art and architecture as well as artifacts from everyday life. Exhibits have been assembled from a number of sources: 83 objects from the Islamic Museum in Cairo and the balance from various international sources, among them the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Metropolitan in New York.

The objects from the Islamic Museum include fine woodwork mihrabs (where the sheikh would stand to give his Friday sermon), jewellery boxes inlaid with ivory and red wood, bronze statues, hexagonal marble stands, tombstones, linen clothing, votive inscriptions, rock crystal lamps, water jug filters and golden dinars bearing the names of the Fatimid Caliphs.

"Europe is familiar with pharaonic antiquities, but this is an opportunity to reveal the wealth of material from Egypt's later historical periods," said Gaballa. The event is hosted by the Paris-based Arab World Institute (Institut du Monde Arabe).

The second exhibition, 'The Glory of Alexandria', will run through to 26 July and will include 300 works. "This period is not very well known to the general public," said Gaballa, "but it was a brilliant period, when schools of philosophy and poetry flourished in Alexandria, and the famous Museum and Library became a centre of culture for the whole of the Mediterranean world, displacing Athens."

An official of the French Embassy in Cairo confirmed that Ptolemaic art is not well known in France, but mentioned that excavations currently being carried out by Jean-Yves Empereur offshore at Qaitbey, on the site of the once famous Lighthouse, "are raising a keen interest among the public."

More than 100 pieces have been selected from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria and the Archaeological Museum in Tanta. Charlotte Gerez, press officer for the exhibition, said that other objects are being lent by the British Museum in London, the Brooklyn, Cleveland, Metropolitan and other museums in the US, and "also museums in Italy such as the Archaeological Museum of Naples and the Vatican Museum." The wealth of objects from the Ptolemaic period that have been distributed around the world can be seen from the fact that objects are also being lent by museums in Germany, Austria, Belgium and Denmark.

"On the fringe of the exhibition, the Petit Palais Museum will host a photography exhibition entitled 'Egyptian Alexandria', showing more than 50 contemporary shots of Alexandria by Carlos Freire," said Gerez. "These photos show that Alexandria and its inhabitants make up a large city where, at any street corner, at every glance, you can discover the archaeological strata accumulated over the centuries."

Mohamed Saleh, director of the Cairo Museum, who is also in charge of all Egyptian exhibitions at museums abroad, said that among the exhibits are three limestone heads and a red granite bust of Alexander the Great, two heads of Ptolemy IV and VI respectively, "as well as a head of Queen Arsinoe, and a collection of small polychrome wood statues and dancing dwarfs."

Ahmed Abdel-Fatah, director of the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, added to the list: "Among the pieces selected for exhibition in France are six bronze statues of deities, Aphrodite and Mendora among them, examples of mosaic glass, and six objects that have been salvaged from underwater, including two sphinxes, the torso of a king, the bust of a lady, part of the obelisk of Seti I, and four huge inscribed limestone blocks."

Egypt has long been trying to promote Alexandria as a travel destination, but the Mediterranean city has hitherto missed out on the enthusiasm visitors have shown for Egypt's other attractions. These exhibitions are expected to do much to focus attention on periods of Egyptian history other than pharaonic.

Gaballa emphasised that the objects are being dispatched to France in accordance with SCA regulations regarding the exhibition of rare and fragile antiquities abroad.