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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons On the right track
By Nevine El-Aref
The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has said that this year it aims to keep abreast of technology, continue its policy of documentation and restoration and work towards increasing its income. And it would certainly seem to be making much headway.One of the council's more striking ideas is the possibility of hiring out its employees in order to increase its income. "We have employees who are not fully utilised," said SCA Secretary-General Gaballa Ali Gaballa. "That is to say, a large number of qualified and experienced engineers, restorers, conservationists, carpenters, stone-workers and labourers attached to the council are not all involved at any one time on SCA projects. They could be used elsewhere to generate income. Other ministries and individuals who require their services could draw on our permanent staff." Gaballa said that the income reaped could be divided between the SCA and the staff, that part of it could be used for the maintenance of equipment and that the staff themselves "will be kept busy on worthwhile projects."
"If people require desks for schools, for example, our carpenters could fulfill the needs," said Gaballa. "They have only to approach us and state their requirements."
This is not the first time such a system has been adopted in Egypt. Qualified employees of Cairo University's Faculty of Archaeology are hired out for work elsewhere.
With regard to the upgrading of employee skills, Gaballa told the Weekly, "We intend to depend more on computer technology and make more of our staff computer-literate." He explained that in order to cope with the spread of technology, the SCA had, for the first time, drawn up an advanced strategy for the next three years.
Continuing excavations of the route connecting Luxor and Karnak temples
One of the SCA's chief aims is to identify monuments threatened by environmental pollution and urban encroachment. "There are so many urban and agricultural development plans, not to mention the building of bridges and highways, that antiquities are unearthed fairly regularly. We plan to keep abreast of these chance discoveries, which means sending in our experts to evaluate them, determine what should be done about them and build new museums or upgrade those already open to house the new discoveries."
The SCA is now getting actively involved in tourist areas where monuments are the main attraction. One would imagine that tourist visits to archaeological sites would be the responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism, but Gaballa was quick to point out that tourists abuse monuments and that steps must be taken by the SCA to protect them from damage resulting from misbehaviour ranging from touching to vandalism.
"Tourists cannot simply be shuttled from site to site," said Gaballa. "They need to be provided with decent reception areas, with appropriate facilities and cafeterias, as well as commercial outlets to buy souvenirs. We will provide these at every site, and there will be new entrances."
There is no doubt that certain famous archaeological areas are seriously threatened because of the sheer volume of visitors. "One of the ways we plan to remedy this is to create special routes for tourists to drive through areas and see the monuments from a distance. Special stops will be made so that guides can explain the site or the monuments to their groups. This will hopefully limit the number of individuals actually walking round the sites and bumping against the walls in the often confined spaces," Gaballa said.
Gaballa Ali Gaballa
He explained that it has been the policy of the SCA for several years now to build regional museums, and that very good progress has been made. "We have already completed the blueprints for museums at El-Arish, Hurghada, Marsa Matrouh, Kafr El-Sheikh, Edfu and Taba. We will announce tenders for their construction in the coming months. The SCA will then carry out feasibility studies for other museums -- at Marina El-Alamein on the northern coast and Deir El-Bahri in Luxor." A museum in Minya will open next month.
Two years ago, the SCA started documenting its treasures. A clearly happy Gaballa says: "All the monuments in Fatimid Cairo were documented before restoration began; documentation of the contents of the Nubia and Luxor museums has likewise been completed, as has the cataloguing of the 48,000 exhibits in the Egyptian Museum -- the treasures in the basement and stores will be documented later."
And, with 90 per cent of the treasures of the Islamic Museum, 80 per cent of those in the Coptic Museum and 75 per cent in the Graeco-Roman Museum already catalogued, the SCA is clearly on the right track.
