After five years of extensive restoration, the exquisite Mohamed Ali Pasha Palace in Shubra is to be opened by President Hosni Mubarak this October. Nevine El-Aref reports.

On the Nile bank in Shubra, set in a splendid park planted with rare trees and shrubs, is Mohamed Ali's residential palace. Only part of the palace survives, but following restoration it now looks as majestic as it did 200 years ago.

Over the last five years the palace, once known as the Egyptian Versailles, has been subjected to comprehensive restoration to save the exquisite early 19th-century buildings, which feature a blend of rococo and baroque styles...

Brought back to life, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 762, 29 September - 5 October 2005.

Minya might not be the most glamorous of travel destinations but after a closer look Pierre Loza found that it helped put Egyptian rural life past and present in perspective.

Minya's Zawyet Sultan, also known as Zawyet Al-Amwat, incorporates the ancient with the more recent past. Still used today as a cemetery, it is an area which exudes a crossroads of histories and civilisations that is so prevalent in Minya...

It feels good, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 762, 29 September - 5 October 2005.

Egyptian priest Nesperennub undoubtedly would've been amazed that his body — mummified around 800 B.C. — would be subjected to a CT scan 2,800 years later. The Trustees of the British Museum The inner coffin of Nesperennub is on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

But virtual-reality imaging has shaken the dust off the reputation of Egyptology. And modern techniques for viewing mummies do them no harm, either physically, or — based on ancient Egyptian beliefs — spiritually.

Mummy: The Inside Story opens at the Houston Museum of Natural Science today...

Unwrapping the mysteries of mummies, Houston Chronicle, Texas, USA, September 28, 2005.