A review, by Louisa Pearson of The Scotsman, of channel five's Secrets of the Sphinx: Revealed, Tuesday 14th December 2004.

You know you've watched one too many documentaries about ancient Egypt when you find yourself recognising the names of obscure pharaohs. "Khafre?" you murmur. "Ah yes, now wasn't he king during the Fourth Dynasty?" As Five's Egypt season continued last night, I began to wonder how many applicants for the next series of *Mastermind (myself included) might propose Egyptology as their specialist subject.

Egypt may provide an inexhaustible store of ideas for TV producers, but programmes with the words "secrets" and "revealed" in the title should usually be translated as "heady mix of hearsay and speculation"...

[More], The Scotsman, UK, December 15, 2004, via TourEgypt.

Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni said that some 20 Islamic monumental and archaeological sites in Cairo are to be opened soon after the ministry completed the restoration works of them.

These projects include renovations and developing of several mosques, palaces, agencies and fountains as well as beautifying the nearby areas and surroundings, added Hosni.

[More], State Information Service, Egypt, December 15, 2004.

Although Egypt possesses a third of the world's antiquities, it does not have enough money to pay for the cost of restoring and conserving this tremendous heritage, not to mention exploring new sites, or building museums to host the newly discovered artefacts. Nevine El-Aref looks at the new company that is supposed to help do just that.

The government has decided to adopt a new approach to dealing with cultural heritage that it hopes will generate the revenue necessary to carry out this important work. That is the crux of the Culture Ministry-affiliated holding company currently being formed based on a ministerial decree issued by former Prime Minister Atef Ebeid in July 2004...

[More], Al-Ahram, Egypt, 721, December 16 - 22, 2004.

British and Egyptian viewers were fastened simultaneously to their TVs on Sunday as archaeologists drew them into a live excavation to find more secrets hidden in the Valley of the Golden Mummies. Nevine El-Aref was there.

Cold, darkness and silence reigned over the desert night near Bahariya Oasis, but the Valley of the Golden Mummies was as bright as day under six moon-shaped halogen lamps. Attached to the sand by four iron bars, the lamps hung over an excavation pit which would be the first part to be explored in an innovative TV programme...

[More], Al-Ahram, Egypt, 721, December 16 - 22, 2004.

Picture here.