Farouk Hosni

By Zahi Hawass

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International Heritage Day on 18 April is an important date for archaeologists all over the world. UNESCO established this special day to celebrate worldwide cultural heritage. I do not understand why the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has not celebrated this day until this year. In spite of the fact that Egypt has worked with UNESCO in an international campaign to save the Nubian temples after the construction of the Aswan High Dam, and also worked with the organisation to save the temple of love and romance, Philae. This year the day is even more special because we have created a gold medal which will be awarded by the SCA to an individual who has contributed in saving an Egyptian monument from destruction. We have chosen Farouk Hosni, minister of culture, to be the first person to be given this honour by Egyptian archaeologists.

In my speech at the ceremony in the garden of the Cairo Museum to present the gold medal, I said that Hosni, as both minister of culture and an artist, stood against his government and prevented the extension of the Ring Road threatening the Giza Pyramids.

The fight began when Ilham Abu Fateh, a writer for Al-Akhbar newspaper, raised the issue of the danger of the Ring Road and the damage its construction could inflict on the desert and the silence of the Pyramids. Said Zul-Faqqar of UNESCO proved at that time, to be a man of honour, persuading everyone from UNESCO to stand up against the road extension. However, the big surprise was that the then head of Egyptian antiquities was in favour of the road construction and gave his approval. The head of Pharaonic monuments also said in a meeting that the road would not damage the Pyramids, pointing out that the Fayoum and Alexandria roads already ran close to the Pyramids. No one could believe that the two archaeologists who were supposed to protect Egypt's monuments could be in favour of the construction. History will engrave their names in shame! They thought that they would keep their jobs and please the minister of culture. But Hosni went to visit the road construction site, and when he came back he announced to the media that he would not approve any construction that could threaten the safety of the Pyramids. He was able to convince President Hosni Mubarak to make a historical decision to stop the construction of the Ring Road. The world praised President Mubarak for setting an example in showing that a president bore the responsibility of protecting its country's cultural heritage and keeping history safe for the future generations.

It is easy for a university professor, public figure or a journalist to say they are opposed to the extension of the Ring Road because they do not have anything to lose. In fact they might even gain some publicity. It is quite another thing, however, for a person in an official government office who can lose his job to speak out and say: the Pyramids have to be saved! This is exactly what Hosni did. He spoke up and saved the Pyramids, and that is why Hosni is the perfect person to receive the gold medal. We hope that by recognising the efforts to protect the monuments people will be encouraged to be active and honest in making decisions for the protection and safety of our heritage.

Hosni's second important achievement was when he convinced the cabinet to divert the Desert Road away from Abydos. Before he entered the cabinet he told me that if this happened he would resign. People ask: how can we give the head of antiquities a prize? Many heads of antiquities have destroyed sites in order to keep their jobs, but Hosni had honour and spoke up for our heritage. This prize is not only from the SCA but from all archaeologists.

I met Hosni a long time ago when he was working as the head of the Anfushi Cultural Palace and I was at university. Our friendship grew over the years when he was the cultural attaché in Paris and also the director of the Egyptian academy in Rome. I could feel from his speeches his passion and love for Egyptian monuments. He used to visit me at Giza and Saqqara. He always wanted to be the head of antiquities, but I thought that this would never happen because he was not an archaeologist. But his dream came true when he was appointed minister of culture in 1987, and now in 2005 he has been given the gold medal in recognition of his achievements in saving our heritage.