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A three year cooperative mission, between a research team from the National Institute for Geophysics and Astronomy, "Helwan Observatory", the Computer Science Lab in the Technology Institute, Tokyo, as well as the Supreme Council for Antiquities will resume its project to survey and determine sites to evaluate/excavate for monuments in the Kharga Oases region. Such enterprise aims at the detection of antiquities around Al-Zaiyan Temple in the Polaq district in Al-Kharga Oases, in which state-of-the-art remote sensing and geophysical technology will be used to determine and locate significant archaeological sites. Notably, a similar field of study was conducted to locate the underground water surrounding Hebes Temple in the New Valley. |
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| LE 40 million is to be invested in upgrading Port Said Museum, which will then be able to display stored items in the near future. |
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| The Nubian Rescue Mission at the 4th Cataract in the Sudan, where a huge hydro-electric dam is being built is progressing well. Polish, German, US and British teams are in a race against time to survey and excavate Prehistoric, through Pharaonic, Meroitic, Christian and Islamic monuments from the 160 km long area due to be flooded in 2007. (http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/05/30/news/sudan.php) |
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| The Luxor Temple Avenue has had its concrete tiles replaced with more appropriate stone ones. |
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| Egypt’s President - Hosni Mubarak - will inaugurate early next year the plan to electronically secure the Giza Plateau, a project that has been implemented over the past 3 years by the SCA in cooperation with the National Security Agency. The Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, said that the project cost LE 55 million, and includes the establishment of a 15-km fence around the plateau, to protect it from unplanned buildings. The fence is entirely away from the panorama of the pyramids, and does not have a negative impact on the aesthetic scenery of the Plateau. The plan also includes providing the area with about 20 electronic gates to regulate and control visits from the security point of view. |
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| The sound and light systems in the temples of Karnak and Philae have been upgraded with the latest technology, as the old systems, which were never designed for use in the ancient temples, were damaging the monuments. |
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| The Minister of Tourism - Ahmed Al Maghrabi said that tourism in Egypt has recorded an increase of 5.1% this year from January to October, in comparison to the same period last year. An estimated 7.2 million tourists have visited Egypt during this period. He added that tourist nights have also netted an increase of 3.8% underlining that this represents a breakthrough for Egyptian tourism. Al Maghrabi stated that the government is keen on cutting down of Customs and Imports as well as granting facilitation for establishing trade centres on international standards, which nourished the marketing of goods in Egypt. |
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| Remains of a well, a basin and water canals have been recently discovered at Shikhoun Mosque. |
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| The cave of Abu Serga church at Misr Al Qadima, visited by the Holy Family during their flight from Roman oppression has been treated for the effects of rising underground water. |
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| In October 2005, the SCA’s restoration of the Prince Taz palace in Khalifa was opened by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. The palace, built in 1353 by Prince Seif El-Din Taz in the Bahariya Mamluk era, was being used as a Ministry of Education storage facility, but the 1992 earthquake severely damaged it. The ministry initially decided to demolish the palace, but later decided to try to restore it. The palace is to be turned into a cultural center. |
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| The Sunken Antiquities Administration in Alexandria is working with Southampton University to draw up a map of archaeological sites on the shores of Mariut Lake. Similar projects, involving Russian, French and British teams are also underway to map various other parts of the city and eventually create a GIS map showing ancient Alexandria. A complete mapping project of Alexandria hasn’t been conducted since Mahmoud Bey El-Falaki conducted his survey of the city in 1865/6 prior to its major redevelopment. |
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| The International Papyrus Institute in Italy has offered a £50,000 grant for the first papyri restoration laboratory in the Middle East. The laboratory is to be part of the Egyptian Museum. |
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| The activities of the executive committee for setting up the Nubia Museum in Aswan and the Civilization Museum in Fustat (Old Cairo) were held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris during autumn 2005. |
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| France has returned a 31 kg stele dating from the reign of Psamtek I of the 26th Dynasty, which originally came from the Temple of Isis at Giza. |
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| A 25% rise in admission fees for tourism and antiquities sites will be used to restore and preserve the sites, according to Elhamy El-Zayat, head of the Egyptian Federation of Tourism Chambers. |
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| This winter French underwater archaeologists have discovered further parts of the foundations of the ancient Pharos lighthouse in Alexandria, the seventh wonder of the world. The director of the Alexandria national museum, Ibrahim Darwish, said Sunday that the lighthouse, which was destroyed by two earthquakes in the 11th and 14th centuries, had occupied an area of 800 sq m north of the city's eastern harbour. The lighthouse consisted of three towers stacked one on top of the other and reached 120-137 meters high. On top of the lighthouse, there was a bronze chalice holding smouldering coal. A complicated system of mirrors made it possible for travellers to see the smouldering coal from a distance of up to 60 miles. The lighthouse was built by the Greek architect Sostratus for King Ptolemy II (284-246 BC). It was erected on the eastern side of the island of Pharos at the entrance to the harbour of Alexandria. In July 2005, Governor Salam El Mahgoub called on Egyptian and
international organizations to restore the lighthouse, a project that will cost $100 million. |
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| Shali, the picturesque mud-brick city in the Siwa Oasis, has been added to the World Heritage Antiquities recorded by the UNESCO. |
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| In Beijing, an international joint research group from the Catholic University in Leuven and Beijing University discovered a collection of Egyptian art that was believed lost for many years. The find consists of over 50 stelae and 60 rubbings made with charcoal on paper. A special find is a stela which depicts Cleopatra as a male pharaoh. This is only the second known example of such a depiction. The majority of the retrieved items are items belonging to the Greek-Roman epoch. The first exposition of the retrieved collection items began at the Beijing Museum in August 2005. |
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| In September 2005, the Governor General of Aswan - Samir Youssef ordered the investigation of a senior antiquities inspector responsible for Pharaonic noblemen's graves on the west bank of the Nile. In the meantime, the inspector has been demoted to a humble administrative post as a punishment for neglecting his duties. The Governor is having the performance of all the archaeologists, inspectors and security guards working in the Aswan Inspectorate reviewed, in preparation for the new tourist season. In related news, Youssef has allotted an area of land near the river in Aswan for the use of camel rides and as a car park for taxis. He has also given instructions for the creation of a new guidebook for Aswan, as well as repairing roads, paths and walkways to benefit visitors and constructing a new jetty for tourist boats to berth. |
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| A bank robber dressed as an Egyptian mummy staged a successful raid on a bank in Vienna, Austria. The bandage-clad robber walked into a bank in the Austrian capital and stood in line waiting to be served. He then passed the cashier a piece of paper saying he had a hand grenade hidden in his bandages - and demanded all the money. He then quietly walked out with a bag filled with cash before police could arrive. Well, mummy usually holds the purse strings. |
