Pathway to the past
A nearly two-decade old dream, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation looks set to finally see the light. Nevine El-Aref witnessed the placing of its foundation stone
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Mrs Mubarak and Culture Minister Hosni put the new museum's foundation stone in place
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The foundation stone of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation may be pyramid-shaped, but the ambitious museum intends to address several different eras of the country's great past. On Saturday, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak helped place the silver- coloured stone at the site in the ancient city of Fustat on which the museum is to be built.
Located at the edge of the Ain Al-Sira lake, neighbouring Old Cairo's religious- antiquities-rich core with its Amr Ibn Al- 'As mosque, Hanging Church, and Ben- Ezra synagogue, the museum is being envisioned as the living memory of Egypt's diverse civilisations from prehistoric to modern times.
According to museum consultant El- Ghazali Kusseiba, the Egyptian Civilisation museum is not only designed to display 50,000 artefacts, but will feature exhibits meant to emphasise Egyptian culture, identity, and the skills and achievements that its history has witnessed. The museum's design is meant to integrate the building with its surrounding environment. The building itself is influenced by the architectural paradigms of its brilliant collection, Kusseiba says, its exterior is characterised by a somewhat neutral, simple look that suits its timelessness.
As the foundation stone was placed, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni recounted how the original plan for a museum to showcase Egypt's various stages of civilisation placed the project somewhere on Al-Gezira, near Zamalek. Once the Cairo Opera House was built there, the remaining space was too small for such an ambitious project. The idea remained dormant until 1990, when, coincidentally, said Hosni, during an "iftar I was having with the minister of interior near this spectacular location (Fustat), I was so impressed with the panorama at the edge of the Ain Al-Sira lake that I suggested it to archaeologists and experts from UNESCO, who all agreed that it would be perfect."
The stage was set. Cairo governorate removed any and all encroachments on the site, and offered the ministry of culture the 25 feddans they needed. According to Farouk Abdel-Salam, first under secretary at the ministry of culture, the museum building will actually only occupy five of the feddans, with the remainder used for landscaping and outdoor exhibits. "The space will be Cairo's new lung," is how Hosni put it.
One of those outdoor exhibits, said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), would be showcasing the ancient dyeing factory found by the SCA on the site itself during the routine prebuilding inspection to check if antiquities are hidden under the ground.
With the help of UNESCO and financing to the tune of LE200 million provided by the Nubian Monuments Salvage Fund, construction is expected to take place over three years, according to Kamal Barakat, who heads the Fund.
