The 1960 UNESCO spearheaded an international campaign to save the monuments of Nubia and the remarkable success in doing so showed the world how international solidarity could work together to serve noble objectives and save the heritage of mankind, Egypt's Ambassador to UNESCO Ahmed Refaat said.

Addressing world diplomats, dignitaries, archaeologists and Egyptologists at the opening of the Nubia "Campaign: Yesterday and Today" exhibition at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris Wednesday night, Refaat thanked the international organisation for all its past, present and future contributions to preserve Egypt's national patrimony...

[Source], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, April 15, 2005.

You can't be more royal than the king that was the message Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni sent his critics last month.

In many ways, his words ring absolutely true.   After all, we've never heard of Ramsis II complaining about his crowded neighborhood.   In fact, rumor has it the down-to-earth king loves the company.   And if you're wondering about the pollution he has been exposed to for the last 50 years, it's no secret Ramsis has become so addicted to the fumes belching from the cars and minibuses that the first thing he asks for in the morning is his daily fix...

[Source]   Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume #26, Issue 04, April 2005.

Unravelling the Mystery of the Boy King's Murder

The remains of King Tutankhamen came crashing into the 21st century earlier this winter when they were subjected to a non-evasive CT (or CAT) scan which scientists say may have helped them answer a question that has long captured the public's imagination: Was the boy king murdered?

After an extensive investigation, a group of scientists determined that there is no evidence suggesting King Tut met his end with foul play.   Although Swiss and Italian scientists helped with the initial CT scans, an all-Egyptian team of radiologists and pathologists reviewed the 1,700 images of the mummy taken in a brief, 15-minute CT procedure in an attempt to answer some of the lingering mysteries about the ancient King's lineage, health and untimely death...

[Source]   Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume #26, Issue 04, April 2005.

• 'Our Antiquities Abroad' was the title of a symposium held in collaboration with the Greek Embassy at Helwan University's Faculty of Arts this week.
• A restoration and expansion project is currently being implemented at Sedi Shebl Al Aswad in Menufia at a cost of LE17 million.
• The second stage of Sharm el-Sheikh museum's construction project has been initiated.   The museum has been designed to occupy an area of 12,000 square metres and will cost some LE90 million.
• Fayyoum Antiquities Zone has published a blue print of several projects including the upgrading of Al Lahun Pyramid and the restoration of the Workers' Village.   The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has endorsed the budget required to maintain excavations at Al Lahun Pyramid site.
• Three projects are underway to lower subterranean water beneath Osirion tomb at Suhag, Ashmonien tomb at Minia and Ihnasia beni Sueif.
• A team from the Russian Antiquities Institute is currently conducting an underwater survey from Al Anfushi to Agami on the north coast off Alexandria with the purpose of drawing an archaeological chart.
• An Egyptian owner of a private collection has handed over Coptic stones belonging to an archaeological church in Ihnasia to the SCA.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, April 15 - 2005.

By Zahi Hawass

I spent four years studying at the University of Alexandria for my undergraduate degree, which is why I have a special relationship with this beautiful city.   A few weeks ago Mirvat Seifeddin, director of Alexandria's Graeco-Roman Museum, informed me that the American Research Centre in Egypt (ARCE) , in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Antiquities ( SCA) and with funding from USAID, had finished the restoration of three mosaics.   The three mosaics took approximately six months to restore and are now on display in the museum as masterpieces.   The magnificent pieces date from the early history of Alexandria.

I arrived at the museum to meet my colleague, Ahmed Abdel-Fatah.   Although he has reached the retirement age of 60 we have asked him to continue working because it is impossible to think of the monuments of Alexandria without him.   The museum was filled with members of the press and my colleagues from the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria University.   We paused to view the first piece, which shows children hunting gazelles surrounded by mythical animals.   This piece has been stored in the museum since being discovered, and this is the first time that it has been shown to the public.   Now tourists can witness the beauty of this piece...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 738, 14 - 20 April 2005.

The planned erection of the colossus of Queen Merit Amun, wife of Ramses II at Tel Basta is unlikely to do much to attract visitors to the site, says Jill Kamil, who looks to the records for the greatness that was.

Sometimes an archaeological site is more interesting for what is not there than for what is.   The small open-air museum at Tel Basta near Zagazig, where a large statue of Ramses II's consort (discovered some years ago) is soon to be erected, contains no more than a dozen or so objects; even a century ago the area was so ruined that guide books -- including Baedeker's -- wrote that it was a waste of time to go there when there were so many more worthwhile places to visit.   The fact is that the history of the devastation of Tel Basta -- ancient Basta, classical Bubastis -- situated where the Pelusiac and Tannic branches of the Nile join the Wadi Tumilat in the eastern Delta -- is more interesting than its surviving objects.   But let us first recall the greatness that was...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 738, 14 - 20 April 2005.