Jacqui Mitchell, age 14 Ojai

Re: Barry Pollack's Aug. 14 article, "Too much toot and not enough King Tut":

Mr. Pollack writes, "While I enjoyed the exhibit, my overall impression was that there was too much toot and not enough Tut."

I do not believe he understands the importance of the treasures being on tour again. In 1976-80, the Tutankhamen treasures toured the United States. They then traveled to West Berlin. The scorpion on the Goddess Selket, one of the four nearly identical figurines guarding Tutankhamen's canopic chest, was damaged. Top Egyptian conservators were flown over immediately, and were able to repair the statue of Selket. Soon afterward, Parliament requested the Tutankhamen treasures never leave Egypt. This year, Zahi Hawass managed to persuade Parliament to allow the Tutankhamen treasures to travel abroad...

Your letters: West county: Defending Tut exhibit, Ventura County Star, California, USA, September 22, 2005.

A fair item titled Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh is due to travel to San Francisco by the middle of next month.

"This item is among five archaeological collections to be presented by Egypt in the fair held in the United States for one year," said Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities...

Queen Hatshepsut fair travels to US, Arabic News, September 22, 2005.

With the upcoming international conference on museology opening in Alexandria the city can be proud of its latest gem, says Jill Kamil.

Alexandria National Museum in a 20th century mansion in central Alexandria is a state-of-the-art museum in which objects of all epochs are displayed in uniquely suspended showcases. When it was officially opened last winter it caused a great impact. How could it not? The building itself is an Italian- style mansion built in 1928; the objects on display are in diagonally-placed cabinets that do not detract from the elegant architectural features of the building and, what is more, they have not been seen before; they were hitherto in storage in the Egyptian, Coptic and Islamic Museums in Cairo and in the Graeco-Roman and Jewellery Museums in Alexandria. The collections on display in their sophisticated and well-designed setting, superbly lit and with well-placed and accurate labels, were praised by all. The launching was a great success.

Sad to say, however, the ceremony over, the museum saw few visitors...

Alexandria's elegant showcase, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 761, 22 - 28 September 2005.

Egyptian reliefs dating back thousands of years could disappear within a decade, archaeologists said on Thursday. As Egypt's population grows, agricultural land moves closer to ancient temples and funeral monuments. Water for irrigation is weakening temple foundations and eroding the carvings.

"We've seen it. We have photographic evidence of something we took a picture of 10 years ago and we go and take a picture of the reliefs now and they are simply not there," said Nigel Hetherington, an archaeological conservation manager...

Farming threatens ancient Egyptian sites, CBC News, Canada, September 22, 2005.

cf. Egypt's Pharaonic History Under Threat, EgyptElection, Egypt, September 22, 2005.