Issue No. 613
Heritage
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21 - 27 November 2002 Issue No. 613 Heritage |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | |||
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Dig days:Behind the scenes
Back in September, I thought to myself how wonderful it was that people all over the world would be watching, live on international TV, events actually taking place on the Giza plateau and the search for the "secret door" in the pyramids. But what of my own people? Had arrangements been made for the event to be screened locally? I considered it extremely important that it should be, and that they too should see this programme live.
Consequently, the president of National Geographic, Tim Kelly, executive producer Terry Garcia and I made an appointment with the minister of culture, Farouk Hosni. We discussed cooperations between the Ministry and National Geographic, and the minister expressed his views on some important issues. The results were extremely positive and I learned about how profitable some of the deals were.
First of all, films to be produced by National Geographic will be screened on a cultural channel that is soon to come into operation, and all productions will belong to the Ministry of Culture. These will include important coverage of the history of excavations in Egypt and the objects of the Egyptian Museum -- scheduled to be released on 9 December 2002 during the Centennial of the museum. This film, originally set for half an hour's screening has now been expanded to a full hour and the Ministry will have the right to sell it at the Egyptian Museum Shop for the benefit of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). This deal should bring us half a million dollars.
National Geographic also agreed to send one of their best photographers, Ken Garrett, to shoot those objects in the Egyptian Museum that have been selected for display in the soon-to-be- officially-opened new exhibit called The Hidden Treasures of the Egyptian Museum. This exhibition, which will display about 250 objects hitherto stored in the basement of the museum and in various storehouses at our excavation sites throughout the country, will be in the basement of the museum which has been completely renovated. The SCA is entitled to use these photos to produce books, posters, calendars and other material.
It was in return for the above that it was agreed that National Geographic could cover the Pyramid exploration live. This is an excellent deal, one of the best Egypt has ever made for a live TV show, and it will reap well over a million dollars for the Ministry of Culture and the SCA.
We have hosted three live TV shows over the past 15 years. The first was a screening of Pyramids plateau in 1988 for which Egypt received LE100,000. For the second, also on the Pyramids, Egypt received LE60,000, and for the third LE75,000. More important than financial gain, however, is the publicity and promotion that results from such activities -- worth billions of dollars.
During the meeting with the minister of culture, we naturally raised the issue of the live screening on 17 September and whether it would be shown in Egypt. Consequently, Hosni called the minister of information, Safwat El- Sherif, and asked him to make the necessary arrangements for the event to be screened on local TV. In fact, I am proud to say that Egyptian viewers stayed up until 5am to watch the show. The famous actress Raghda said that she was thrilled and enjoyed every minute of it. My friend, the comedian Adel Imam, lifted his eyebrows in his amusing way and commented that we had not found treasures behind the door. I told him that the fault lay with Egyptian TV because one of their commentators got over-excited over the opening, said exaggerated things and gave entirely the wrong impression.
The show started off by describing the Pyramids and explaining that Khufu's great monument did not appear suddenly out of a vacuum, but that the great Egyptian civilisation received impetus as far back as 5000 BC and continued for thousands of years with the same religious beliefs. This was one of the best recorded segments of two-hour show, in which there were 40 minutes of live coverage; the rest was recorded months earlier.
A six-minute episode showed me inside the Step Pyramid of Djoser, built by the genius Imhotep who introduced limestone as a building medium in place of mud-brick. Imhotep was a common man who was able to rise to a status second only in importance to the Pharaoh; he was even worshipped as the god of medicine in the Late Period.
I entered the Pyramid from the north entrance; I believe I am the only living Egyptologist to do so; everyone else has entered from the south entrance. It was difficult to climb through the tunnels and passages. In some places I had to crawl forward on my stomach for metres down the passageways to get to the chamber containing the beautiful alabaster sarcophagus that was used for the burial of the Pharaoh and princes. Seeing the false doors inscribed with the Pharaoh's titles and depicting him running or dancing in the so-called Sed Festival was remarkable. I also saw the large sarcophagus hidden under the sand in the large burial chamber.
I entered the Step Pyramid at 9:30am and exited at 5:30pm. To walk, crawl, and even jump through some seven kilometres of corridors was a truly amazing adventure. The cutting of such tunnels and passageways must have been as demanding as building the Pyramid itself.
To be continued...
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