Big bang celebration
Grand plans are in the works to commemorate next week's 100th birthday of the Egyptian Museum. Nevine El-Aref reports
The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square is buzzing with activity this week, as the final touches are being placed on the grand plans that have been put together to celebrate the downtown landmark's 100th birthday.
A white marble gate now greets visitors to the neo-classical building, which has been repainted and polished to a shine. 12 busts -- representing famous foreign and Egyptian archaeologists over the years -- have been strategically placed in the garden. The core of the celebrations themselves -- which will kick off on 9 December -- will take place in the large air-conditioned tents that have been set up for the occasion in the museum's western courtyard.
The most eye-catching change of all, perhaps, is taking place in the museum's basement -- where a crew of carpenters, curators, painters and technicians has been busy polishing the walls, cleaning the floors, and installing new showcases and wooden stands. A vast section -- 500 square metres -- of the museum's basement is being set up to host a landmark exhibition called "The Hidden Treasures of the Egyptian Museum", featuring some 250 objects that have been stashed in the dusty vaults of the building or forgotten in some storehouse for years.
"For the last six months we have been digging around in the basement of the Egyptian Museum and in the storehouses of about 15 major sites across the country to find objects that few people have ever seen before," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). According to Mamdouh El-Damatti, the museum's director general, the collection includes Tutankhamun's 30 gold amulets and small pieces of jewelry meant to either protect the wearer against evil, or bring good luck. Also amongst the hidden finds are three newly restored copper statues of Pepi I, the founder of the fifth dynasty, and two well-preserved Old Kingdom painted limestone statues -- one of a seated scribe and the other of a servant baking bread in front of an oven. These last two were found in the storage room at Cairo University's Faculty of Antiquities, where they have been ever since they were excavated by the late Egyptologist Mohamed Bakr nearly a century ago.
Alexandria University engineering professor, Hussein El-Shabouri, the man responsible for the interior design of the basement display, said that "the basement has been transformed into a mausoleum worthy of the display of a hitherto unknown but essential part of Egypt's heritage." El-Shabouri explained that the basement's walls were given an ethereal ambiance, and that a fibre-optic lighting system has been installed to allow visitors to see the treasures in bright light, without doing damage to the objects themselves.
The rest of the museum's interior has also been spruced up. The animal mummies hall has been renovated, and furniture has been placed in a manner similar to the way it looked when the doors first opened in 1902.
Culture Minister Farouk Hosni described the museum as a "hive of activity that reveals that the centennial anniversary of one of the greatest museums in the world is a clear indication that it is a living museum, moving from 1902 to 2003."
Amongst the activities planned for the centenary is a two-day forum on recent museological theories (being held at the Cairo Opera House), as well as a grand celebration at the museum itself, choreographed by Walid Awni.
On the night of 11 December, the sky above the museum will be lit up with the beams of four laser sky trackers which will be displaying different geometrical patterns. Visitors -- expected to include Mrs Suzanne Mubarak -- will be taken along a specially marked route lined with soldiers wearing early 20th century military costumes -- a red tarboush and dark blue suit decorated with golden threads. A multi media projection on the museum's western wall will highlight some 55 items from the hidden treasure exhibit.
Also on the way to the celebration's main tent, visitors will pass through a documentary exhibition displaying the museum's original blueprints and maps, designed by Frenchman Marcel Durvein, as well as photos featuring Abbas Helmi II, Egypt's leader at the time, placing the building's foundation stone in the presence of princes and high-ranking government officials. Photos showing the different stages of construction, the actual pen used by Abbas Helmi II to write a few words in the museum's guest book, and a memorial stamp and coin from the time, will round off this exhibit.
This year, the Postal and Mint Authorities are also releasing a commemorative set of stamps, and silver and gold coins, for the occasion. Posters highlighting selections both from the new exhibit as well as the museum's regular collections, will be hung up in various locations across the country.
Sculptor Mahmoud Mabrouk was commissioned to make two kinds of medals to honour former directors, curators and museum staff who helped spruce up the museum and the new basement galleries. He said that one of them is a gold statue of the goddess Maat holding a silver feather while the second is a replica of the ivory hand mirror of the goddess Hathor.
Sixteen people in all will be honored at the celebrations, which will also feature the screening of a 30-minute documentary film produced by the National Geographic Society about the museum's century of history. Several publications and brochures will be available, including a biography of two pioneer Egyptologists, Ahmed Pasha Kamal and Hag Ahmed Youssef, the so-called "sheikh of restorers".
