Issue No.590
Living
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13 - 19 June 2002 Issue No.590 Living |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Mending the past
The ability to deal professionally with ancient pieces of stone work and art was once a far-fetched dream for most Egyptians. As Reham El-Adawi finds out, however, there is now a glimpse of hope at the Antiquities Restoration School
A modest iron gate with a matching black plaque is the only indication of the Boys School for Antiquities Restoration in Ahmed Al-Sawi street in Nasr City -- leaving it only to the wildest imaginations to conceive that in such a modest building 60 restoration experts-to-be graduate every year.
The post-secondary school, pre-college, three- year academy-- considered a stepping stone into the profession of archeological restoration -- is providing an arena in which young boys passionate about their country's heritage can explore the possibility of a career in it. To some, the awareness of the country's monumental treasures, and the importance of restoring them, was already a forceful belief. In other cases, however, it initially was not.
"I first chose the school because it seemed interesting -- a new field," Ali Abdallah Derbalah, a third-year student, says. "But it turned out to be a turning point in my life, because day by day, I began to change my perspective of the field, and begin to look at what I was doing as a noble mission." he continues. "Visiting the archeological sites, whether Islamic, Coptic, or Pharaonic, increased my appreciation and pride of our heritage."
Founded in 1992 under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture, and endorsement of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and the Ministry of Education, the school opened doors not just to Egypt, but to the region as a whole. Sixty per cent of students are from remote governorates and other non-city locales such as Luxor, Aswan and Al-Minya. Only 30 per cent are from Cairo.
"The main purpose of setting up the school is to provide the SCA with an adequate number of qualified restorers, rather than training the council's old employees," Abdel-Meguid Hashad, general supervisor of the school, told Al- Ahram Weekly. The aim, Hashad explains, is that with their solid, grounded foundation in the field -- and an impressive set of starting tools, skills, and know-how -- graduates of the school can then go on to join the Faculty of Antiquities at Cairo University. Provided, of course, they obtain the necessary graduation requirements.
The school -- which caters to its high number of borders (65 per cent) by accommodating them for a nominal academic-year housing fee of LE120, paid in two instalments -- educates students not only in terms of the restoration and archaeological curriculum, but also on a broader educational level. Instruction in the areas of mathematics, science, and English is taught by teachers from the Ministry of Education -- which is also responsible for providing meals for the students in the on-campus hostel.
The restoration curriculum eventually streams students into chosen specialisations.
"Graduates of the school are specialised either in architectural restoration or fine restoration," Hashad explains. "They then must work for five years at the Sector of Antiquities as trainees." This requirement -- a stipulation regardless of whether or not they go on to join the Faculty of Antiquities -- is another insurance of honing a new generation of highly skilled professionals in the field.
Over the course of the three-years, students are exposed to a vast variety of restoration- related areas and their corresponding sub- division areas of instruction.
Concerning the subjects that are "in architectural restoration, students study the restoration of antique buildings, monument walls, ancient techniques of building and the types of stones and concrete used in the past to reinforce buildings in danger of collapsing," Hashad says. "This is in addition to learning how to restore pillars using the state-of-the-art technology, as well as practicing free-hand painting and decorating the interior of the monuments," he continues.
When it comes to the monuments, every detail of them becomes a point of scrutiny and learning for the 60 enrolled students each year.
"Students are trained how to produce items such as the gypsum windows decorated with stained glass, decorative ribbons found in churches and mosques as well as engraving some texts and Qur'anic verses on gypsum," Nour Ibrahim, a teacher of architectural building and decoration at the school, said of her section. She added that students learn how to make Pharaonic relief paintings themselves, and acquire the know-how of their effective and meticulous restoration.
"They develop an awareness of the factors that cause monuments to deteriorate, such as high temperature, humidity, gases, and deterioration caused by people," she says. "And they learn how to specify the suitable means of treatment."
In the "fine restoration" section, subjects areas centre partially around portable monuments -- such as those found in museums and temple walls and tombs -- as well as on the restoration of manuscripts, ceramics, glass, treating and maintaining damaged wood, marble, metals, stones as well as textiles and carpets. The art and civilisation of the Pharaonic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras are also issues tackled in the section.
Ezzat Salib, a textile restorer at the Coptic Museum, shared with the Weekly that the best method for a student to learn how to restore a piece of carpet is to make one himself first.
"Then," he says, "he must damage it intentionally and start trying to figure out the appropriate means of repairing it." They learn, he adds, how to mend patches, insect-damaged areas, or missing parts of old carpets.
It is not, however, as simple as one, two, three, go. "There are some basics students need to know before actually starting the restoration process," Medhat Saber, a restoration expert at the Islamic Museum told the Weekly. "These include knowing the difference between renovating and restoring," he says. "And, for example, that the renovation processes approved by UNESCO in mosques, are forbidden techniques when it comes to Pharaonic antiquities," he explains. "They also learn techniques used by their ancestors in building temples and tombs and how to register the piece of monument."
The process is long, the different areas of study highly varied, highly detailed, and highly rigorous.
"Over the course of the three-years," Hashad says, "Each student is required to submit a substantial research project dealing with one monument -- whether Islamic, Pharaonic or Coptic."
And for those from governorates renowned for high-quality tapestries and carpets, Saber adds, "they are asked to write a report on the history of carpet-making there". This comes with the added bonus of being taught how to mechanically clean, dry, remove patches, and display the works.
The school and the iron gates that bind it in, however, are not the sole markers of this next generation of skilled restorers. The school's founders and administrators firmly believe in the importance of frequent visits to monumental sites in Cairo currently under restoration.
"During the year, we are accompanied every week by architects and restoration experts to monumental sites in Old Cairo such as Hassan Pasha Taher Mosque and Qany Bay Al-Ramaah Mosque in Sayeda Zeinab," said Ashraf Abdel- Hadi, a student from Cairo, expressing his enthusiasm for this element of the curriculum given its wealth as a learning opportunity.
The visits and local-expert lectures are complimented with visits by international professionals in the field. Last month, Francesco Pertegato, a freelance textile restorer, visited the school to talk about the more modern technologies used abroad. Pertegato will facilitate contacts between the Centre Institute for Restoration in Rome and the school -- part of an effort to propel teaching and restoration techniques at the school to those of international ranks.
The school, the students, and the sector as a whole, are in the midst, those in the field say, of a local restoration hey-day. In recent years, the restoration and preservation of Islamic sites, old buildings, and Coptic and Pharaonic monuments have become more prominent on the nation's priority list; the restoration of ancient monuments becoming of increasing importance to a country whose past civilisations have left their mark on the world. As another class of young boys graduates from the school this summer, they too, will be part of a generation of archaeologists and restorers who, in some little way, leave their mark on the world.
photo: Khaled El-Fiqi
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