Al-Arish museum is getting ready to receive tourist as monuments pieces are being moved to it from eight other museums in preparation for its inauguration, expected to be within days.

The construction works of Al-Arish museum lasted for five years with costs of 50 million pounds, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said.

Celebrations marking the inauguration of Al-Arish museum are coinciding with the October victory celebrations, the Minister added.

Al-Arish museum is to display the history of Sinai from the prehistoric era till the Islamic rule, Zahi Hawass Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities said.

Arish museum to open within days, State Information Service, Egypt, October 04, 2005.

Miniseries producer Hallmark Entertainment is going back in time to offer a new take on the discovery of King Tut's tomb in a project starring Malcolm McDowell ["A Clockwork Orange"] and Casper Van Dien ["Starship Troopers"].

The company recently wrapped shooting in India on " The Curse of King Tut's Tomb," a four-hour miniseries billed as a fact-based fantasy adventure. It's set mostly in the 1920s but includes flashbacks to ancient Egypt...

Hollywood Actors Play King Tut's Discovery, CHN, Iran, October 04, 2005.

An Australian institution working in ancient arts domain gave back to Egypt a number of rare Coptic scripts in response to the international campaign launched by UNESCO to restore stolen Egyptian monuments.

The institution sent a letter to Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary- General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities clarifying that it possesses these rare scripts which date back to the fifth century.

The institution expressed readiness to launch renovation operations of the scripts and publish them scientifically before handing them to Egypt...

Australian institution restores rare Coptic scripts to Egypt, State Information Service, Egypt, September 30, 2005.

As one museum decays, restoration specialists have their eyes on another at the neglected lake in Ain El-Sira.

Although envisioned as a sea of calm in the midst of Old Cairo, the lake has been run-down for decades. Today, it is slated to become the site of a national museum of Egyptian heritage. The grounds, lying on 50 feddans, should be finished by 2008 and will house the first heritage preservation facility as well as the first national archive.

Although the Minister of Culture had given the go-ahead for the project in 1999, there was a legal battle over the land, which was then registered to Arab Contractors. The two parties have since reached an agreement.

Site For Sore Eyes, Egypt Today, Volume # 26, Issue 09, September 2005.

The Egyptian desert is hot and dry. The land is parched, the dust still, under a hard, bright sun.

But Gerard Opel doesn't seem phased by the arid conditions.

"It's been up to 50C in August but it's cooled off now, sort of. When I was there last week the temperature had dropped to about 40. But it's very dry, you don't sweat and it's quite tolerable."

It would be easy to think that Gerard had lived in Africa his whole life. In fact he works in Newport, for a manufacturing firm called Cintec International...

... for the past decade the Cintec team have been doing their bit for archaeology in ancient Egypt ...

And today they're in the middle of their most exciting venture yet: restoring the Temple of Hibis in the Kharga Oasis...

The pyramid savers, icWales, UK, October 04, 2005.

cf. Post from June 22nd Firm secures Egypt temple mission.

A tale of a mismatched couple's visit to the Tut exhibition. He likes museums and can spend twenty minutes looking at one item. She finds a bench in the corner and has a snooze.

Royal shrine offers spot for slumber, San Bernardino Sun, California, USA, October 03, 2005.