Figurines of King Tut, Ramses and Queen Nefertiti in Cairo's famous Khan Khalili bazaar all bear the hallmarks of pharaonic regalia, from the goats-hair beards to the golden sceptre.

But the slanting eyes framed by the ancient Egyptian rulers' trademark kohl lining betrays the statuettes' Chinese origins.

While Egypt is increasingly betting on the irresistible rise of China's economy for its own prosperity, the unbeatable prices of the Asian giant's products are breaking into the last strongholds of local manufacturing...

Egypt trembles in front of ‘made in China’ pharaohs, Middle East Online, UK, October 31, 2006.

Today, it sounds like a spring-break splurge on the order of "Girls Gone Wild": Drink huge quantities of beer, get wasted, indulge in gratuitous sex and pass out — then wake up the next morning with the music blaring and your friends praying that everything will turn out all right.

But back in 1470 B.C., this was the agenda for one of ancient Egypt's most raucous rituals, the "festival of drunkenness," which celebrated nothing less than the salvation of humanity. Archaeologists say they have found evidence amid the ruins of a temple in Luxor that the annual rite featured sex, drugs and the ancient equivalent of rock 'n' roll.

Johns Hopkins University's Betsy Bryan, who has been leading an excavation effort at the Temple of Mut since 2001, laid out her team's findings on the drinking festival here on Saturday during the annual New Horizons in Science briefing, presented by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing...

Sex and booze figured in Egyptian rites, Alan Boyle, MSNBC, USA, October 30, 2006.

If you want truly to appreciate a work of art, there's no substitute for seeing it in person. To celebrate the launch of the Guardian's new arts blog, we're asking you to help compile a definitive list of must-see masterpieces. Jonathan Jones kicks it off with his own top 20...

Whilst the list if dominated by renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Caravaggio and several more modern artists such as Picasso and Mark Rothko, three ancient works are also present: San rock art, the Parthenon Sculptures, and the Funerary mask of Tutankhamun.

Unmissable, Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, UK, October 30, 2006.

The leading lot in Christie’s sale of Antiquities, to take place on December 7 [2006], is an Egyptian painted wood sarcophagus and mummy for Neskhons, Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty XXI, circa 990 – 940 B.C. (estimate on request). Sarcophagi of this quality rarely appear on the market and Christie’s is delighted to offer this exquisite consignment. The last time a mummy with sarcophagus was sold at auction was in May 2003, when Christie’s South Kensington sold the sarcophagus and mummy of a priest of Amun for $1.4 million which still stands as the world auction record for a sarcophagus and mummy.

“This is the finest quality sarcophagus to have come to the market in the past two decades,” says G. Max Bernheimer, International Head of the Antiquities department. “The fact that it still contains its mummy and that it comes with an impeccable provenance having been in the United States since the turn of the last century, makes it all the more exceptional.”

The death of many high-ranking or aristocratic Egyptians would have been lost to history but for the fact that they occurred in a time and a place where extensive efforts were made to assure a continuation of life for all eternity. The present mummy and superbly decorated sarcophagus are those of Neskhons, a Stolist — one who performs a ritual for anointing, clothing and otherwise potentiating the cult-image of the god in his Temple — who passed away due to unknown causes while in his twenties. His body was embalmed and the separately embalmed internal organs were replaced inside the body in wrapped bundles together with amulets. The body was expertly wrapped in good quality linen with amulets and placed inside a coffin of sycamore fig wood. The sarcophagus had been gessoed and extensively inscribed in hieroglyphs revealing the mummy’s identity. Neskhons’ burial took place during the Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty XXI, circa 990 – 940 B.C...

Egyptian Painted Wood Sarcophagus at Christie's, Art Daily, Mexico, October 30, 2006.

While we owe the ancient Egyptians a lot — the 365-day calendar, an early decimal system, massive public-works projects — who knew they were pioneers in dental care?

Archaeologists have discovered the 4,000-year-old tombs of three dentists. The markings suggest they were valued members of the community and probably looked after the teeth of the pharaohs and of their families. The hieroglyph for a dentist, in case anybody wants to run up some stationery, is an eye over a tusk. The names of the three dentists, a senior partner and two junior associates, were Iy Mry, Kem Msw and Sekhem Ka Hawass, eerily similar to the names of modern dentists when pronounced through a Novocain-numbed mouth packed with suction devices and Dr. Msw’s drill.

The tombs were protected by a curse. Would-be robbers were warned: Violate these tombs and you will be eaten by a crocodile and a snake. We would have thought the threat of a root canal would have been sufficient.

OK, nothing new here at all but I liked the title!

Did King Tut have crowns on teeth?, East Valley Tribune, Arizona, USA, October 30, 2006.

Alan Eames, a cultural anthropologist who specializes in the study of beer in ancient societies, will explain how beer and witchcraft go hand-in-hand tonight at the British Beer Company in Walpole.

His presentation is called "Order of the Goblin...

Beer, Eames said, has played an important part in societies, such as those in ancient Egypt. The beer was basically a form of non-perishable liquid bread. The wealthy Egyptians, when they died, would have an entire brewery buried with them.

"No society was more immersed in beer than the Egyptians," said Eames. "They assumed what we want in this life, we would want in the afterlife."

Eames is fascinating to listen to, either while talking about legends or his own experiences with indigenous people in various countries...

Any excuse to post about beer!

The beer nut: Spooky beer stories, Norman Miller, Milford Daily News, Kansas, USA, October 25, 2006.

Last night's 9 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT broadcast of the new one-hour special, King Tut's Mystery Tomb Opened was a huge success for Discovery Channel Canada, drawing a record-setting 407,000 viewers A25-54 and 314,000 viewers A18-49 in the Sunday night "Discovery Presents" timeslot. This hour is the highest ever A25-54 "Discovery Presents" audience in the channel's 11 year history. King Tut's Mystery Tomb Opened surpassed previous record holder, Nefertiti Resurrected, which attracted 371,000 viewers in that demo when it premiered in August 2003.

The lead-in companion special, Egypt's New Tomb Revealed, which aired last night at 8 p.m. ET/9 p.m. PT, also drew great numbers for Discovery Channel, attracting 263,000 viewers A25-54 and 193,000 A18-49. These gains represent an increase of +109 per cent and +56 per cent over last October 2005's "Discovery Presents" average.

These two specials follow the Discovery Quest expedition team as they sift through ancient crypts and artefacts to uncover the true identity of the unknown crypt linked to King Tutankhamun. Located less than 50 feet from the tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62), both specials present startling new information about the remains found in the ancient burial grounds. The expedition team of world-renowned archaeologists excavate and explore this new cache (KV63) — first discovered in the Valley of the Kings in February 2006 — unearthing coffins and delicate artefacts, sifting through intricate inscriptions and discovering unprecedented treasures...

Discovery Channel Canada Nets New Audience Record With King Tut's Mystery Tomb Opened, Channel Canada, Canada, October 23, 2006.

Finding Egyptian tombs is a tricky business that often requires a fair amount of luck. Now geologists have found a way to take some of the chance out of the equation.

While cruising the Nile on a tour of Egypt, Katarin Parizek of Pennsylvania State University in State College noticed that many of the cavelike tombs that house the mummified remains of Egyptian royalty were carved in regions rich in limestone. These areas were likely chosen by the ancient Egyptians because limestone is relatively soft and well suited for excavating. What's more, Parizek — who teaches digital photography and was trained as a geologist — noticed that many of the tombs, including those in the famous Valley of the Kings near the city of Luxor, are located in fracture zones, which are even weaker — and thus more easily carved out by the tomb builders.

After returning to the valley with her father, Penn State geologist Richard Parizek, to map the fracture zones and tomb locations, the two predicted that hidden tombs might be found by following fracture traces on the surface. They were proven right last February when the 63rd known tomb in the area was discovered in a fracture zone...

Unfortunately, the same geology that makes the Valley of the Kings ideal for digging tombs also leaves those tombs susceptible to water damage. Limestone is very permeable rock, and fracture zones are even more easily penetrated by water...

A New Way to Find Hidden Tombs, Betsy Mason, Science Magazine, American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA, October 24, 2006.

cf. Previously: Geological feature key to protecting tombs.

I was able to see some of those beautiful treasures recently on a trip to the Field Museum of History in Chicago. On loan from Egypt, the King Tut artefacts, displayed in a special exposition currently at the museum, comprise only a small fraction of what was inside the tomb. What is in Chicago now, though, is still very impressive. There may not be a greater collection of gold in the United States at this moment, outside of Ft. Knox!

Individual audiotapes with personal earphones were available as people toured the exhibit, and I walked around for several hours listening to Egyptian actor Omar Sharif explain a lot of back-story on the King Tut items I was viewing.

There were many vessels and bowls and utensils King Tut’s subjects thought he would need in the afterlife. There were small, painted boats to carry him “to the beyond.” There were chairs and small cabinets. There were so many gold statues, there was gold jewellery and there was a stunning, simple, hand-made gold crown. There was just gold, as Carter said, “everywhere...”

King Tut's treasure worth the Windy City traffic, Princeton Daily Clarion, Indiana, USA, October 26, 2006.

Research Curator, Ancient Egypt and the Sudan, British Museum, UK, England, London.

As the Research Curator, you will be responsible for researching and cataloguing Coptic material from the archaeological site of Hagr Edfu in Upper Egypt in connection with work currently being carried out by The British Museum at the site...

Applications close Monday 30th.

Jobs: Research Curator, Ancient Egypt and the Sudan, Arts Hub, Australia, October 2006.

You’ve gone on a two-week guided tour of Egypt, and now you’re in Cairo. This morning, you went to the Egyptian Museum and peered at Tutankhamun’s funerary mask in a densely sweating crowd. This afternoon, you’re in a coach coming back from the Pyramids. Your fellow tourists are full of complaints about the lewd liberties taken by the camel-drivers, you're laden down with tawdry purchases, and the coach is stuck in traffic on one of the flyovers that cut through central Cairo. You look out, and in the middle of the expanse of biscuit-dry roofs is an extraordinary thing: a delicate stone pinnacle, carved into elaborate, fantastic forms. A little farther away, another and another; a dome rippling with lace-like arabesques.

The coach moves on and the disloyal thought occurs to you: why aren't we looking at that? But you’re flying to Luxor tomorrow and there won’t be time.

It’s a great oddity. Millions of tourists go to Cairo, and almost all of them take the same route, visiting only the ancient relics at Giza and in the Egyptian Museum. But Cairo was not a city of the ancient Egyptians. The city was founded by the Copts as Babylon — one theory holds that its name has nothing to do with the biblical city, but rather Bab il-On, the Gate of On. After the Arab conquest in 641, it became perhaps the greatest Islamic city in the world...

My secret Cairo, Philip Hensher, The Times, UK, October 28, 2006.

All serious researchers must wish to leave their subjects at least in the condition in which they found them. This might not be a problem for medieval Latin scholars, glycobiologists or infrared astronomers. But spare a thought for the Egyptologists who must record, curate, conserve and study the things they recover from the silent earth and simultaneously work out how to stop the whole lot turning back into pile of sand and broken pottery in a generation.

Kent Weeks, of the American University of Cairo, launched the Theban Mapping Project more than 20 years ago simply because no precise plan existed of the 60 or so tombs in the Valley of the Kings. He is still at it, not least because in the course of taking a closer look at a tomb known as KV5, under threat from a tourist car park, "undecorated, unimportant, uninteresting, unnecessary to save," he made the biggest find in Egyptology: 150 chambers and still counting. But there's the catch: as he and his team crawl through the rubble and flash flood debris of 3,000 years, trying delicately to excavate the burial chambers of the sons of Ramses II, more than 7,000 tourists a day are jostling their way into some of the other tombs in the Valley of the Kings, playing merry hell with the heat and humidity levels in dark places that have survived 30 centuries, but may not survive the next 30 years.

It isn't just the tourists. Egypt's history is under threat from growing cities, agriculture, manufacturing and pollution. So Prof Weeks and his colleagues — at the request of the Egyptian antiquities authorities — have drawn up and posted on the web a master plan to save ancient Thebes from further decay and, at the same time, keep it on the tourist map...

Preserving ancient treasures, Tim Radford, The Guardian, UK, October 27, 2006.

cf. The Theban Mapping Project Valley of the Kings Masterplan.

Seeing dead people is a way of life for Gerald Conlogue.

And although they're shrouded in mystery when he meets them, it is Conlogue's job to demystify his mummified acquaintances by uncovering the truth about them.

"What is amazing is, we think of Egypt as being the place where mummies are. Mummies are everywhere," Conlogue told an audience of about 20 people, half of them teenagers and younger.

A professor at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conlogue is co-executive director, along with Ron Beckett, of Quinnipiac's Bioanthropology Research Institute. In examining mummies, the scientists use a technique they pioneered using radiography and endoscopy, which minimizes the possibility of damage.

"Most of what we do is adapt medical imaging techniques to other types of situations," Conlogue said...

Professor unwraps truth of mummies, Felicia Hunter, The Connecticut Post, Connecticut, USA, October 25, 2006.

cf. The Mummy Roadshow.

Since the days of the pharaohs, priceless artefacts from Egypt have been falling into the wrong hands.

But Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, is on a mission to protect the relics of his country's storied past.

"I believe that the return of stolen artefacts is important not only to Egypt but also to everyone all over the world," Hawass said.

"These artefacts belong to everyone, and their return is of the utmost importance, because the past is important to our future."

Hawass wields strong influence over archaeological work in Egypt and over travelling exhibits of Egyptian objects that are ultimately in his charge.

Such clout — combined with a passionate and highly vocal presence — has aided his quest...

Egypt's Antiquities Chief Combines Passion, Clout to Protect Artefacts, Brian Handwerk, National Geographic News, District of Columbia, USA, October 24, 2006.

Twenty-five historical sites in the Mediterranean partner countries have been selected for restoration through the program. Chief among its aims is increasing contact between endangered heritage sites and international investors — public and private — interested in financing restoration and conservation in order to support a responsible public/private partnership for cultural heritage to achieve social development and preserve educational value.

Among the seven Egyptian sites selected for this program is the Villa Antoniadis in Alexandria including the restoration of antique furniture and objects of art. In old Cairo, the mausoleum of Yunes El-Dawadar in Bab Al-Wadaa (Gate of Farewell), which boasts the narrowest dome, has been long neglected. Hama Al-Tanbali, near Bab Al-Shariya, is also earmarked for restoration after being neglected over the years since its construction during the Ottoman period in the 18th century.

Also chosen for restoration is the Geographical Society, which dates back to Khedive Ismail’s efforts to modernize Egypt in the late 1800s. The khedive was well aware of the European exploration expeditions to discover the source of the Nile in the late 19th century, and subsequently the Geographical Society acted as a staging post for explorers who came to Africa. The society houses an extensive library, cartography collection, and geographical maps. The Euromed Heritage Program is also sponsoring a project to “revive the memory” of the Egyptian museum by digitizing glass negatives.

One of the more ambitious projects is rescuing the site of Qasr Ibrim (ancient Primis), which has been surrounded by the waters of Lake Nasser since 1967...

Egypt earmarks seven national landmarks for renovation, African News Dimension, South Africa, October 26, 2006.

Two days ago, Egyptian antiquities authorities revealed that after they caught ancient grave raiders red-handed, they were led to bigger and better things — ancient remains. The 4000-year-old tombs of three royal dentists belonging to the 5th Dynasty were protected by a curse in the Pharaonic era. They have never been opened in the past.

"The local robbers launched their dig one summer night two months ago but were apprehended," said Dr. Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. "Archaeologists were led to the tombs, one of which included an inscription warning that anyone who violated the sanctity of the grave would be eaten by a crocodile and a snake," Hawass added. The antiquities chief detailed the towering, painted profile of the chief dentist staring down at passers-by from the wall opposite the inscription.

The graves are located near the Step Pyramid of King Djoser [at Saqqara]...

Hawass claimed the first tomb that was discovered belonged to the priest Haw Nefer, who performed official duties at the funerary temple of King Pepi I of the VI Dynasty. The priest, his wife and thirteen children are depicted in bas-relief carvings, of which the colours are as bright as on the day they were applied on the temple walls. Twelve complete statues have been found near the tomb of Haw Nefer, representing the priest Khnum Hotep in various positions. The French team had worked on the south Sakkara site since September 2000 to map the area. Excavations southwest of Sakkara began in October 2002.

The last dig of October 2006, by the tomb robbers, was an inexpensive operation turned interesting discovery — by accident. The thieves, now thrown behind bars, will never get to see what lies beneath Sakkara's sacred ground.

Raiders of the lost ‘tomb’ lead authorities to Egyptian treasures, Hazel Heyer, TravelVideo.TV, Ontario, Canada, October 26, 2006.

Historians at the Linda Hall Library wanted to celebrate the library’s expansion in a big way.

So, they are preparing a display of giant books that describe Napoleon’s 1798 military invasion of Egypt that became better known as a scientific and cultural expedition. Napoleon, the emperor of France, took scientists, engineers and artists along with his soldiers.

The library, near the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus, has owned an original 23-volume set of illustrations and text since 1970 but has never publicly displayed the set because of lack of room, said Bruce Bradley, librarian for history of science at Linda Hall...

Napoleon’s days in Egypt inspire display, Kevin Murphy, The Kansas City Star, Missouri, USA, October 26, 2006.

Considered an extinct language, the Coptic language is believed to exist only in the liturgical language of the Coptic Church in Egypt. The ancient language that lost in prominence thanks largely to the Arab incursion into Egypt over 1300 years ago remains the spoken language of the church and only two families in Egypt.

Coptic is a combination of the ancient Egyptian languages Demotic, Hieroglyphic and Hieratic, and was the language used by the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt following the spread of Greek culture throughout much of the Near East. In essence, it is the language of the ancient Egyptians themselves.

Mona Zaki is one of only a handful of people that continue to use the language in everyday conversation. She speaks a colloquial form of Coptic with her parents and a few relatives that dates back 2,000 years...

Coptic Language's Last Survivors, Joseph Mayton, The Daily Star, Egypt, December 10, 2005.

Egypt will witness the annual celebration of the perpendicular sun fall on the face of Pharaoh Ramses II statue in Abu Simbel Temple in Luxor on Sunday October 22 [2006].

"The celebrations will kick off with parades moving from Luxor's entrance to the Abu Simbel Temple," said Saber Sanad, the head of the Abu Simbel municipality.

"Presents will also be offered to tourists whose dates of birth or marriage coincide with the occasion," he added...

Abu Simbel to witness perpendicular sun fall on Ramses II's face, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, October 21, 2006.

The World's Longest River?

In theory, yes. And staggeringly big it is, too. The Nile pips the Amazon to the post in world league tables, measuring some 6,695km (4,160 miles), as opposed to the South American river's 6,516km (4,049 miles). The valley covers more than five times the surface area of France. Of course, such statistics depend on where you actually deem this mighty African river to start. The measurement above is taken from the Kyaka river, a headstream in Burundi. However, opinions vary as to the exact source of the Nile; indeed the subject became something of an obsession for Victorian explorers.

Matters are somewhat complicated by the way the river begins as two substantial branches: the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The former is the longer (and arguably rises in Burundi), although the latter contributes substantially more water to the Nile proper into which it flows from Ethiopia. The White Nile turns a whiteish grey from clay suspended in its waters as it flows through southern Sudan, hence its name; the Blue Nile is so-called because it is purer and, well, bluer. These rivers merge near Khartoum in Sudan, and the Nile then continues northwards into Egypt, where its fertile flood plains have supported centuries of civilisation (indeed, the name Nile comes from the Greek nelios meaning "river valley").

At Egypt's wide Nile delta beyond Cairo, the river divides into a mass of waterways which drain into the Mediterranean, the principal two being the Rosetta and the Damietta...

The Complete Guide To: The Nile, Harriet O'Brien, The Belfast Telegraph, Northern Ireland, UK, October 24, 2006.

An important archaeological dig in southern Syria found evidence of extensive trade between ancient Egypt and Syria during the middle and old Bronze Age. An excavation team at Tel al-Dibbeh in Sweida, southern Syria, discovered clay pots with hieroglyphs used for burying children.

Most of the items date to the middle to old Bronze Age and show a link between Egypt and Syria during this period, most obvious in the use of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Tell al-Dibbeh kept watch over trade routes from the second millennium B.C. until the Nabatean and Ghassanid ages.

At the time, Tel al-Dibbeh was an administrative unit on equal footing with Bosra in the south. It is believed that the archaeologists are uncovering what is an ancient temple.

Excavation work will continue at the Salkhad citadel and other sites near the city of Sweida. Sweida is one of Syria's most notorious archaeological sites in the southern part of the country.

New Archaeological Find Links Syria And Egypt, Joseph S. Mayton, All Headline News, Florida, USA, October 23, 2006.

At 9 pm on October 9 [2006], the History Channel will launch their new weekly series "Engineering an Empire" with a two-hour special premiere episode on ancient Egypt, following various architectural marvels from the planning stage through the building phase. The program, which is arranged chronologically, includes background information describing what is happening in Egypt at the time of construction as well as mini bios on the rulers and architects who commissioned the work.

I thoroughly enjoyed the variation in monument types featured in " Engineering an Empire: Egypt" and learned a lot about the process of construction in ancient Egypt. The History Channel did a fantastic job featuring live re-enactments and computer animated recreations of how monuments were built using only simple machines, such as ropes, sleds and pulleys, and manpower, over the course of decades in some cases. These digital visuals helped illustrate how it really is possible to build a giant pyramid using men, ropes, and sleds; it just takes an incredibly long time. Instead of asking themselves, "How are we possibly going to construct an enormous monument to commemorate our god-king in the afterlife without the marvels of twenty-first century machinery?" the ancient Egyptians turned to the community and said "Hey, you 10,000 men! How about giving up the next 10 to 20 years of your life to build a tomb for your King? Food, shelter, and clothing provided, please bring own hammer." Too bad we don't see the invention of the labour union until much later in history. Not only was ancient Egyptian construction more advanced than anything else in the world during that time, but the sheer magnitude of organization and manpower is astonishing.

Using interviews with renowned Egyptologists, on-site narration by actor-historian Peter Weller, re-enactments of Egyptian workers and rulers, and pictures of artefacts and wall carvings and paintings, "Engineering an Empire: Egypt" tells how these monuments were constructed...

The DVD is available for pre-order on Amazon.com: The History Channel Presents: Egypt - Engineering an Empire.

Ten Thousand Men, One Million Stone Blocks, and a Couple of Sleds, Tracy Spurrier, Archaeology Magazine, Archaeological Institute of America, USA, September 28, 2006.

Alexander's tomb is an object of archaeological obsession, not for the treasures it might contain — they were almost certainly looted long ago — but for the body of Alexander. While living, Alexander was a demi-god; after his death, his divinity grew. Roman emperors visited his tomb because they wanted to be associated with his greatness. He was revered even by early Christians — during the fourth century they wore medals with the name Jesus Christ on one side and the Macedonian conqueror on the other.

Alexander died in Babylon in 323 B.C. after a lingering illness, possibly malaria or West Nile virus. As his remains were being taken back to Macedonia, Alexander's trusted general, Ptolemy, hijacked the mummified body and brought it to Memphis in an attempt to legitimize his own new position as king of Egypt. Thus begins the incredible story of Nicholas J. Saunders's (Basic Books, $26.00, £15.99).

There is no shortage of potential sites for the lost tomb. The most notorious is, of course, the sarcophagus in the British Museum that Napoleon's savants believed was Alexander's. Later, when hieroglyphs were deciphered, it was revealed that the sarcophagus was carved for Nectanebo II, the last native ruler of Egypt. So it's not Alexander's. Or is it? Nectanebo fled Egypt and never used it, so it is possible that Ptolemy buried Alexander in the vacant royal sarcophagus. There was even a faint rumour that Nectanebo was Alexander's father...

Losing Alexander, Bob Brier, Archaeology Magazine, Archaeological Institute of America, USA, Volume 59, Number 6, November / December 2006.

During the holy month of Ramadan many Cairenes flock at night to the heart of mediaeval Cairo, especially in the surrounding area of Al-Azhar for folklore performances and Oriental sohour. However, on Wednesday the scene was slightly different. In a departure from the norm, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga, Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir and a score of other high-ranking government officials paid a visit to Al-Azhar to attend a Nassir Shamma oud concert and help inaugurate three Mameluke edifices — Al-Ghouri, Mohamed Bek Abul-Dahab and Khan Al-Zaraksha — following their restoration.

In front of the awe-inspiring limestone façade of the Khan Al-Zaraksha edifice, embellished with fine mashrabiya windows on Al-Azhar Street, the tour began, led by archaeologist Ayman Abdel-Moneim, head of the Cultural Development Fund who explained the restoration works in progress.

Like so many Islamic monuments in mediaeval Cairo, decades of neglect and the steady encroachment of inhabitants have dealt a heavy blow not only to the historic structures but to the memory of Al-Azhar Street once filled with sple