The basement of the Egyptian Museum will be opened to visitors. Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, declared that a contract has been signed with a state-owned company to insure and reorganize the Egyptian Museum’s basement before making it accessible to visitors. The decision comes after several items from the basement storage area have been “lost” or stolen in the past year, to the embarrassment of those responsible.

Culture in brief: The basement of the Egyptian Museum will be opened to visitors, Cairo Magazine, Egypt, October 20, 2005.

Leila Elwi will act in an Egyptian-Swedish movie called Al Ahramat bi Laun Al Mafia (The Pyramids in Mafia Colours). The movie is about the destruction of historical monuments in Egypt.

Culture in brief: The Pyramids in Mafia Colors, Cairo Magazine, Egypt, October 20, 2005.

Aswan experienced one of the most flourishing days this week, when thousands of tourists gathered at the Rameses II Temple in Abu Simbel to follow up with the entrance of the sun rays into the temple and how they became perpendicular on the face statue of Rameses II, which is placed inside the temple. Tourists often gather to attend this occasion twice every year. The first time on February 22nd, which marks the birth anniversary of Rameses II; while the second time is on October 22nd, which marks the anniversary of his crowning.

The two dates are fixed every year and the sun is never late. It always rises and its rays move directly on the face of Rameses II alone, then it moves without being spotted on any other part of the temple or on any other statue inside the temple. It is actually an engineering miracle by all means, especially when it takes place in a temple that was carved in the rocks. It is really a miracle that reflects how the Egyptian creator was great.

Some people believe that the two dates refer to other things than the birthday and the crowning. They refer to the beginning of the summer and winter seasons, according to the Pharaonic calendar. Nevertheless, this would not change anything, as the sun still enters and spots on Rameses II's face on those two days only along the whole year.

Aswan this week hosted 5,000 tourists, who came specially to mark that unique astrological phenomenon, accomplished and created by the ancient Egyptians. Aswan actually is the main topic of our speech today.

Aswan did not take its right...

Aswan actually did not take its deserved right in the promotion witnessed by the Egyptian tourism industry along the past few years. It is by all means qualified to become an international tourist destination. It is a complete and independent tourist site that contains all types of tourism including entertainment, cure, fishing, safari and antiquities as well as river tourism. Aswan is very rich in its tourist product; yet it lacks the attention of its people, its cities, the travel companies and the Ministry of Tourism itself – how!! This is also the theme of our speech today. We have actually tackled this issue plenty of times before, but we will tackle it again and again until we give that region it due right.

Tourists head specifically for Aswan to enjoy the wonderful natural scenery and to enjoy its great atmosphere, or else to get cured from various diseases. They head to Aswan to enjoy the safari trips in its desert side by side with the deer. They head to Aswan to sail in boats in the Nasser Lake so as to enjoy fishing. They head to Aswan to enjoy its antiquities and to tour its temples in Abu Simbel, as well as view the Sound and Light show. They head to Aswan to enjoy the marvellous Nile cruise to Luxor. Some other tourists prefer to head afterwards to the Red Sea, specially to Marsa Alam, so as to get the entertainment and the rest on the Red Sea beaches, where they could enjoy diving and windsurfing.

Where is the role of travel companies?!

Aswan is an integrated tourist destination that should be promoted in this regard. This is exactly what the Egyptian travel companies do not do. Travel companies prefer the easier destinations as Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada. They prefer the Red Sea in general, then Cairo, then the Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan. The same things that we said about Aswan could apply to Luxor as well.

Where are the efforts that should be exerted by the travel companies in creating non-traditional programmes?! Where are the efforts of the people of Aswan and Aswan Governorate?! Aswan is in need of an intensified effort that should fill its empty hotels.

I believe the first thing we could do to promote Aswan is by creating numerous occasions on its land. We should also try to present that unique destination in all international events and exhibitions in London, Madrid, Milan, Berlin, Moscow and Dubai.

International conference

Why don't we consider holding an international conference in Aswan?! We could extend this invitation in the autumn of 2006 right before the start of Aswan's wonderful winter. We could extend the invitation to 100 top international travel companies, on the expenses of the Ministry of Tourism, so that the top 100 would get acquainted with Aswan. Such a conference, which I suggest could be held in the early September 2006 and should be prepared very well and should be held either before or after the Mediterranean Travel Fair (MTF). It means that there is still one whole year; which is enough to promote Aswan in the international events, including the preparation of brochures, videos and CDs.

The conference should cope with another conference that we – as journalists and travel writers of the three international, Mediterranean and Arab federations, should call for as a non-paid press campaign to promote that promising region.

I hereby call for a campaign that should be adopted by the Ministry of Tourism for creating a new and integrated tourist destination that we already have, but we waste it for nothing, although we want to enhance tourism, create thousands of new jobs and boost investments. Why don't we open the door to the south, exactly as we did when we opened the doors to the east of the Red Sea and Sinai and most recently to the north at the Egyptian Riviera on the Mediterranean?

Quick movement urged

Could we hope for a quick movement, starting now until we reach the organization of a tourism conference in Aswan in the early December 2006? Some might see it as a dream, but I find it a kind of determination. I am quite optimistic and I feel that everybody wants to move. I sense that the start should take part by the Ministry of Tourism and its Minister Ahmed El Maghraby and from the Egyptian Federation for Tourism associations and its Chairman Elhami El Zayat. El Gomhouria newspaper could also adopt the issue and collaborate to it, for the sake of quick movements towards the targeted goal.

Aswan - integrated tourist destination, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, October 24, 2005.

by Zahi Hawass

In 1987, I was appointed Director General of Giza, Saqqara, and Bahariya Oasis and set to work dealing with many problems facing these sites. I began setting up controls to collect fees from visitors and limited the number of people entering the pyramids. Furthermore, I fought off a ring road that would have run near Giza and threatened the monuments; and set up a site management plan that included excavation and preservation.

The last great Egyptian archaeologist Selim Hassan, the last to excavate Giza before I came, stated that the plateau held no more secrets and that everything had been found. But, the last fifteen years have proved him wrong and have made many important discoveries.

During the last few years, I have received national and global recognition for my work. The foreign press in Cairo gave me the Pride of Egypt Award, and Mansoura University, honoured me for my contributions to Egyptian society and the archaeological community worldwide.

In 2000, I received the Distinguished Scholar of the Year from the Association of the Egyptian-American Scholars, and was presented with the Silver Medal from the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Recently, I was chosen by the National Geographic Society as their eighth Explorer-in-Residence.

Two of the most important honours I have received are, the First Class Award for Art and Science, presented to me by President Hosni Mubarak in recognition of my achievement and conservation of the Great Sphinx. The other special award was given to me by my home village and held in the courtyard of my primary school. It was wonderful to see all the smiling faces of my family and friends and I could not keep back my tears.

The American Academy of Achievement awarded me a Golden Plate, placing me in the company of several Nobel Prize winners. Recently (2005), I was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the American University in Cairo.

In 2002 I was promoted by Egypt's Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, to Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the top antiquities job in Egypt.

Discoveries, recognition and promotion, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, October 24, 2005.

By Hassan Sadallah

The Ministry of Culture has started a project to develop St Catherine's Monastery in southern Sinai.

The project is part of a plan by the Ministry and the Supreme Council for Antiquities SCA to preserve Egypt's cultural, archaeological and historical heritage, said Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.

"This project is composed of three stages, the first includes a comprehensive documentation of all manuscripts at the monastery," according to Zahi Hawass, the Secretary-General of SCA. The second, added Hawass, focuses on compiling an encyclopaedia on the monastery "from an Egyptian-Graeco perspective".

"The third includes filming a documentary on the monastery in cooperation with its custodians tracing the emergence of monasticism in the world as a whole and in Egypt in particular," said Hawass. The documentary will also highlight the geographical and historical features of the place.

Project to develop St Catherine's Monastery, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, October 24, 2005.

The latest issue of Ancient Egypt Magazine is out now. A summary of its contents follows.

• A Victorian View of Ancient Egypt
  John Hannavy looks at the social conventions revealed by the Victorian photograph albums of trips to Egypt.
• The Temple of Gerf Hussein
  Martin Davies describes the history of this temple, now partially reconstructed at New Kalabsha.
• Rameses II at the Ramesseum and in the British Museum
  Photographic skill and modern computer software allow Guy de Bédoyère to "re-unite" the two parts of a famous statue.
• Tales of the Crypts
  Following her investigation of the Egyptianising monuments in a Parisian cemetery, Cathie Bryan visits two London cemeteries.
• The Identity of the King and the Sun God
  Chris O’Kane finds links between the movements of the stars and planets and ancient Egyptian mythology.
• The (Royal) Mummy Returns but is he Rameses I?
  Dylan Bickerstaffe analyses the evidence.
• News of the Friends of the Petrie Museum
• Improved Facilities in the Valley of the Kings
  Marshall Hindley reports on proposed changes that could make visits to the Valley more pleasant for everyone as well as helping to protect the tombs from increasing numbers of tourists.
• Inspired by Egypt
  One Egyptian businessman has been so inspired by ancient Egypt that he calls himself Djed-Maat-Ra, and has built himself a temple dedicated to Hathor! — Ayman Wahby Taher interviews him for AE.
• You can look, but PLEASE don't touch!
  AE’s Editor warns of the danger to monuments from too many visitors.

Ancient Egypt Magazine, Issue 32, Volume 6, No. 2, October / November 2005, Empire Publications, Manchester, UK.

Perhaps the first organisation of true human globalisation, UNESCO's projects for protecting history and culture are themselves a heritage to be proud of, writes Chafik Chamass.

With the UNESCO campaign for safeguarding the Nubia monuments, initiated some 45 years ago, Egypt marked the launch of one of the first large-scale cultural heritage salvation initiatives in the history of mankind. By weight of its unique, ancient civilisation, Egypt ensures the centrality of the role it still plays internationally today. Thus, in 1959, when UNESCO launched its first international cultural heritage salvation campaign, it was with the aim of helping Egypt safeguard the Abu Simbel temples in the Nile Valley. These treasures of ancient Egyptian civilisation were threatened by the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

Once again, Egypt was advantageously on the front page: books, magazines and memoirs related this story of an emerging conflict between culture and human development. The story also brought to light the Pharaohs' obsession with immortality as well as their divine concepts of beauty and peace as exemplified by their civilisation. The modern threat to the survival of the unique temples demonstrated that the conservation of the world's common heritage concerned all countries...

Sixty years of beauty, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 765, October 20 - 26, 2005.