President Hosni Mubarak is due to inaugurate the recently renovated Coptic Museum, part of the Religious Complex at Old Cairo, within the next few days. The Museum has been overhauled and restored by the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

"The Coptic Museum is one of the most important museums in Egypt, as well as internationally. It contains many unique antiquities dating back to early Coptic times. The restoration work was done by top Egyptian and Italian archaeologists," stressed Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.

SCA Chairman Zahi Hawass said that the old building has been completely restored, including the walls, ceilings, doors and windows. "A number of new glass displays have been added, with state-of-the-art lighting and security. Meanwhile, restoration work on the new building of the Museum, which opened in 1947, is currently underway.

"It consists of 17 showrooms and is linked to the old building by an interior passageway, which is very convenient for visitors," he explained, adding that the inaugural ceremony will include the screening of a documentary about the history of the Museum and an exhibition of rare photos. There will also be a book containing the names everyone involved in the restoration.

The upgrading of the Coptic Museum, founded by Morqos Pasha in 1908, has hit LE28 million , including better security in the showrooms; improving the gardens surrounding it and the creation of a data centre and lab for restoration work.

LE28m to restore Coptic Museum, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 24, 2006.

Al-Salloum on the Egyptian-Libyan border will witness a full eclipse of the sun at 12:40 p.m. (10:40 GMT) on March 29, the Egyptian Gazette reported Thursday.

As many as 15,000 spectators who will travel to Egypt from all over the world will watch the unusual event, said the newspaper.

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) will organize a ceremony to mark the eclipse, including an exhibition of 55 ancient artefacts.

The main attraction will be a sundial that dates back to Pharaonic times, reflecting pharaohs' interest in studying the movement of the sun and other stars.

Meanwhile, the SCA is planning to develop archaeological attractions at Mersa Matrouh, 550 km northwest of Cairo, including the famous scene of Cleopatra's Bath.

SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass was quoted as saying that there are many significant monuments in Matrouh Governorate, including the Mountain of the Dead, which contains tombs dating back to the 26th Dynasty, about 2,500 years ago.

Total Eclipse to occur on Egyptian-Libyan border, People's Daily, China, March 24, 2006.

A total of 272 artefacts from the British Museum, representing the ancient civilizations around the world, have been on show in the Capital Museum of Beijing March 18 [2006].

Chinese audiences have the opportunity to enjoy the collection without going abroad after the exhibit titled "Treasures of the World's Cultures" opened on Saturday.

The world's oldest tool from Africa, a 3,000-year-old mummy, ancient Egyptian tablets, Greek busts and Roman sculptures, among other treasures, are on show.

The intention of the British Museum is to bring the whole world into one building, said Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, at the opening ceremony, adding that the British Museum is "not a museum of the whole world, but for the whole world..."

Artefacts from British Museum on display, China Daily, China, March 21, 2006.

cf. Artefacts from British Museum on display in Beijing, Shanghai Daily, China, March 19, 2006.

New York City is refusing to address an Egyptian official's request that the city return Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park because the ancient obelisk is being neglected.

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council on Antiquities, wrote to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to protest the city's care of the 71-foot obelisk, a gift from Egypt to the U.S. 126 years ago, the state-run Egyptian newspaper Al-Akhbar reported.

Hawass, who has waged a campaign since 2002 to recover Egyptian antiquities abroad, said weather is damaging the monument and that the city should give it back, the newspaper said.

The city parks department, charged with maintaining the obelisk, dismissed the claims that it was neglecting the artefact...

New York City Says It Isn't Neglecting Cleopatra's Needle, Bloomberg, New York, USA, March 24, 2006.

A crowded Seoul theme park is not usually a place for getting in touch with ancient Egyptian culture, but Lotte World in southern Seoul is making an exception.

Since late February, the Adventure section of the spacious theme park in Chamsil has been holding an exhibition featuring some 100 replicas of artefacts from ancient civilization in Egypt in the third floor of Rainbow Plaza.

On display are statuettes of prominent pharaohs such as Rameses and Tuthmosis as well as the variations of famous Gods such as Isis, Anubis, and Selket. The golden mask and throne of Tutankhamun and the Rosetta Stone are also not to be missed...

Seoul Theme Park Displays Egyptian Artefacts, The Korea Times, Korea, March 19, 2006.

the sun blasts an early warning as you leave the airport and meet your guide for the day. Anticipation is heightened by so many recommendations that you visit the Valley of the Kings, but you wonder whether the realisation will justify them.

First stop is the Colossi of Memnon with its two gigantic statues that welcome visitors to West Thebes at Kamal-Hetan. You are impressed, but this is merely an entree. The delights that follow leave you in awe of Egypt and its history.

For another eight hours, your mind tries to absorb a torrent of information at the Temple of Luxor, also known as the southern Harem of Amun and once a venue for complex liturgical rites; the Temple of Amun-Re; the Deir al-Bahari complex, a grandiose temple in a valley that the ancient Egyptians considered sacred to the goddess Hathor. And then you head for the Valley of Kings. By far the most breathtaking in its isolation in the desert...

Tut, Tut - I'm not only here for the golf, Unison, Ireland, March 19, 2006. Requires subscription. A non subscription version of the story can be pulled from the Google cache here: Tut, Tut - I'm not only here for the golf.

The civilisation of ancient Egypt lasted longer than the entire span of what we have come to accept as 'recorded history': Over 7,000 years, the ancient Egyptians developed esoteric practices that contemporary scientists are still trying to unravel.

Priests in ancient Egypt enjoyed a unique position in society, as their people had close links with their gods. A priest in those days was often called 'hem netjer' or a servant of the god.

Priests played a vital role in religious rituals, which were extended to the practice of magic. They performed magical rites for gods in their temples, in order to ensure that their presence would continue on Earth, maintaining the harmony and order of the world as it had been created.

Physician, priest and magician were one in ancient Egypt. It would not be unusual, for example, for a patient to have a dog bite treated with a paste of berries and honey and then bandaged, after which the priest would utter an incantation over the wound and give the patient a magical amulet to wear.

Healing was an art that was addressed on many levels. The sanctuaries of the gods often had sanatoria attached to them, allowing physician-priests to perform 'miraculous healings'.

In those days, amulets were small objects that ancient Egyptians wore, carried or offered to a deity, in the belief that they would impart a magical kind of protection to the wearer.

In ancient Egypt, amulets might be carried, used in necklaces, bracelets, rings, or even small statues. They were often placed among a mummy's bandages to ensure the deceased a safe, healthy and productive afterlife.

Egyptian amulets functioned in a number of ways. Symbols and deities generally conferred the powers they represented. Small models that represented known objects, such as headrests or arms and legs, served to ensure those items were made available to the individual or that a specific need could be addressed.

Magic contained in an amulet could be understood not only from its shape. Material, colour, rarity, the grouping of several forms, and words said or ingredients rubbed over the amulet could all be the source for magic that granted the possessor's wish.

The power of the ancient Egyptian priest, The Egyptian Mail, Egypt, March 18, 2006.

When the Metropolitan Museum of Art struck an accord with Italy last month to return antiquities in exchange for long-term loans, both sides said they hoped the agreement would serve as a model for future disputes between nations and museums.

Many cultural observers saw the pact as beneficial both for Italy and the Met. Now, as American museums are facing increased claims against objects in their collections, one leading diplomat is rejecting that framework as an unacceptable compromise...

Egypt Moves To Claim Mask From St. Louis Museum, The New York Sun, New York, USA, March 24, 2006. Subscription required.

Egypt is close to eliminating elephantiasis — one of the world's most disfiguring diseases — which has plagued the country since the time of the pharaohs, scientists said on Friday.

The condition, known officially as lymphatic filariasis (LF), is caused by a microscopic parasitic worm spread by mosquitoes. It can cause devastating symptoms such as grotesquely swollen limbs, as well as fevers and pain...

... An autopsy on the 3,000-year-old mummified body of Natsef-Amun, an Egyptian priest during the time of Rameses XI, revealed the presence of filarial worms...

Elephantiasis on its way out, Reuters via News 24, South Africa, March 24, 2006.