The man behind Tut's return zealously preserves his country's past.   He's drawn both admiration and ire.

Zahi Hawass moves through dim galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a sport-coated platoon leader walking the point on a tense patrol.

The face so often smiling in television specials about ancient Egypt is stern.   The brown eyes that shine when he's playing raconteur at sold- out lectures about the pyramids and pharaohs radiate cold intensity as he inspects each object in "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."

"These monuments of Egypt are the heritage of everyone," he says later...

Eternal Egypt is his business, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, June 20, 2005.

We elitists may hate the crowds, but blockbuster art shows have benefited millions.

Like Christopher Knight, the art critic of this paper, who thinks the current King Tut blockbuster exhibition is "smarmy," I am an art elitist.   I hate these blockbuster crowds, the inflated admission prices and those things you stick in your ear for the platitudinous canned tour.

In Cairo, when I was organizing the first Tut show in 1975 (as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), I was allowed into the Egyptian Museum after hours – all alone – and was given permission to open any case and to fondle the incomparable pieces.   The first one was Tut's great gold mask, which I hefted from its pedestal and promptly kissed, full on the lips.

But Knight is way off when he slams art exhibition "blockbusters" ...

In Defense of King Tut, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, June 20, 2005.

The government has begun implementing an ambitious programme to restore the civilised face of the capital.   This will be achieved through an effort to limit pollution, over-population and traffic jams.   The new programme is being executed in cooperation with the private sector in the framework of the new millennium development goals which include protection of the environment.

Part of the plan focuses on the improvement of the al-Madabegh (tanneries) and Abul Soud districts at a cost of LE863 million, and the movement of government departments away from buildings in downtown.   It also includes upgrading the randomly built areas and gardens along the banks of the Nile in order to improve the Nile Corniche.

Cabinet sources noted that a study to implement development programmes in al-Madabegh and Abul Soud that would transfer industrial activities polluting the environment away from the capital is also underway.   They added that a plan to convert the whole area into a massive tourist site at a cost of LE863 million is being considered.

In cooperation with the Chamber of Leather Industries, a new industrial site will be created to which the tanneries in Masr el-Kadima district will be transferred.   The National Investment Bank will finance the project with an investment of LE385 million.

Sources mentioned that the owners of the existing tanneries will be exempted from 50 per cent of the cost of the new tanneries.   This is an incentive to leave their current locations.   The project will be managed by Cairo governorate.

However, owners of shoe factories and tanneries located outside of Masr el-Kadima will have to pay the total cost of constructing any new infrastructure to which they relocate.   It has been agreed that the Social Fund for Development will finance the beneficiaries' equipment modernisation operation in cooperation with the Ministry of International Cooperation.

Another part of the project will see Cairo governorate, in cooperation with the Ministries of Population, Culture and Tourism, develop Malaeb Sheha in Darrassa, a randomly built area comprised of 280 shanty towns.

A recent report released by the Cairo governor revealed that 239 families from this region will be moved to new housing units in al-Nahda district.   This will follow in the footsteps of the Zeinhom project which was successfully implemented under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak.

The report, now in the hands of the cabinet, also highlighted proposals on limiting the heights of buildings in certain Cairo areas.   This would have the dual benefit of limiting over-population and helping to restore the beautiful face of the capital.

The report also included a comprehensive review of how to preserve the antiquities of Cairo from destruction due to pollution.   A notable case is the preservation of Rameses II Statue currently located outside of Rameses Square.

All of this links to the cabinet's ongoing project to upgrade the banks of the Nile from Cairo upstream to Helwan.

Restoring the face of the capital, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, Jun 19, 2005.

Pharaohs may never have found the glorious afterlife they were expecting, but one thing about ancient Egypt is eternal — the popularity of King Tut.

The Boy King — and his bling — return to the United States 26 years after his treasures dazzled 8 million museum visitors and created a new category of cultural event: the museum blockbuster.

Even by today's over-the-top standards, the Tutankhamun collection is staggering.   This time, curators of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" are packing displays with more than twice as many gold and jewel-encrusted artifacts from the world's most celebrated archaeological discovery.   There are 50 objects from the pharaoh's tomb and 70 more from the graves of his noble relatives.   All the artifacts are at least 3,300 years old...

Tutankhamun and 'The Golden Age', Indianapolis Star, USA, Jun 19, 2005.

There is a link at the bottom of this article to a photo gallery with some photo's taken from the New York Times.

The New York Times has devoted a part of its internet site to the exhibition of Tut's objects.

...the exhibition's design was overseen by David P. Silverman, an Egyptologist at the University of Pennsylvania, whose experience was also apparent in the first Tut exhibition...

Tutankhamun and 'The Golden Age', State Information Service, Egypt, June 19, 2005.

At the rate of 300 an hour, visitors streamed into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a second consecutive day yesterday as "Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" began its two-year, four-city American tour.   With the first days' ticket sales restricted to museum members and with tickets issued in limited numbers to ensure a smooth start to the show, the museum was prepared for 500 visitors an hour beginning tomorrow.   Carrying a top ticket price of $30, the exhibition of more than 130 Egyptian antiquities continues through Nov. 15. Museum officials said total attendance might pass 1.2 million, the record established by its King Tut exhibition in 1978.   A van Gogh show at the museum in 1999 drew 821,004 visitors.

Hail to the King, New York Times, New York, USA, Jun 18, 2005.

British and German archaeologists have found an ancient glassworks in Egypt, believed to date back to around 1250 BC, according to a study published in Science magazine.

The site, at Qantir-Piramesses on the eastern Nile Delta, suggests that Mesopotamia may not have been the sole cradle of glassmaking from raw material, say the study's authors, British archaeologist Thilo Rehren, of University College London, and German colleague Edgar Pusch, of the Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany...

Ancient glassworks found in Delta, State Information Service, Egypt, June 19, 2005.

cf. Ancient Glassmakers: Egyptians crafted ingots for Mediterranean trade, Science News, Vol. 167, No. 25, June 18, 2005, p. 388.

Although Egypt stands at the crossroads of continents and civilizations, images of pyramids, The Sphinx and mummies dominate, eclipsing its other historic cultural and religious strands.

Now attempts are being made to redress the balance and to put the Pharaonic period in context through an ambitious renovation project in Cairo and a series of cultural events in the United States.

Tourism has flourished under the watchful eyes of the Pharaohs with the majority of foreign visitors being attracted by the prospect of viewing ancient tombs and temples...

Egypt's other pasts, CNN, USA, Jun 19, 2005.

The gilded treasures of Tutankhamun have returned to the United States more than 25 years after the sensational success of their first visit, and this time Egypt intends to cash in on the enduring popularity of the boy king.

The comeback museum tour has all of the trappings of a Hollywood blockbuster sequel: a "gold carpet" opening in Los Angeles, a high-powered marketing effort and the potential for a massive box office with tickets as high as $30 each.

"I am not going to send any exhibit for free anymore. We took you for a free lunch and dinner a lot.   Now is the time to pay for your dinner," said Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities...

King Tut treasure back in U.S. as Egypt seeks gold, Reuters, UK, Jun 19, 2005.