On August 25, the giant statue of Rameses the Great began a 10-hour, 35-kilometer journey through Cairo. Estimates ranged from hundreds of thousands to millions of people who stayed up all night to watch and cheer the famous Pharaoh along to his new resting place at the site of the new Grand National Museum.

SCA Chief Dr. Zahi Hawass noted the importance of the move as a truly Egyptian operation from start to finish, whereas foreigners had traditionally “looked after our monuments.”

Because of the size of the monument, the new museum, scheduled to open in 2011, will have to be built around the statue of Rameses. The SCA is considering moving other antiquities to the site before construction starts, most notably the Solar Boat. [my emphasis]

It is interesting to see they are thinking of moving the solar boat to the site of the new museum. The existing solar boat museum situated just behind the pyramid of Khufu at Giza looks somewhat out of place where it is but it was built there on purpose. It is actually built over the boat-pit that the disassembled solar boat was found in. The pit is part of the exhibit and some of the covering stones are still in place.

Stone Man Walking, Cache Seel, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 28, Issue 01, January 2007.

The National Egyptian Book and Manuscript Organization (Dar Al-Kutub wal Watha’eq Al-Qawmiyya) has recently finished digitalizing a number of its maps and periodicals as well as most of its rare manuscripts, in addition to 50,000 books on Arab heritage.

Material will be available online, as part of the first online national library. Dar El-Kutub Chairman Mohamed Saber El-Arab announced last month that the library is a step toward joining the international digital library project, making Egypt the only Arab country to sign up for the project to date.

The development, he added, is only one in a number of innovations introduced to Dar El-Kutub, celebrating the centenary of the library this month. The celebrations will culminate in the opening of a new Dar El-Kutub in Bab El-Khoulq area.

Culture 101: Heritage Online, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 28, Issue 01, January 2007.

News of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy’s plan to set up a nuclear power plant in the North Coast Daba’a region has come as a shock to Dr. Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), who identified the area as one recognized in antiquated maps as the site of the ancient city of Zefrium.

According to Hawass, the entire stretch between Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh, including Daba’a, is riddled with ruins covering the Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman eras. The SCA head was also quick to point out that when the Daba’a area was designated as the site for a nuclear power plant in 1980, the paperwork was never cleared with the SCA.

Hawass assures, however, that there is no rift between his council and the ministry, saying that representatives of the SCA had surveyed the area last August in cooperation with the ministry, finding some monuments dating back to the Greco-Roman era.

Culture 101: Chain Reaction, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 28, Issue 01, January 2007.

cf. Previously: Ancient Site to go nuclear, December 27, 2006.

More than 3,000 books on Africa which have been collected by a Tyneside-born traveller are to be sold at auction.

The collection has been put together by Rosemary Goode, 75, originally from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, who lives with her husband Barry in Kenya.

The books will be sold by Newcastle auctioneers Anderson & Garland on January 22 in a sale which has already attracted international interest. The collection is expected to fetch around £10,000...

Rosemary studied Egyptology and in 1953 became the first graduate of the new Oriental Studies department of Durham University, leaving with a first...

An African treasure-trove goes under the hammer, Tony Henderson, The Newcastle Journal, UK, January 10, 2007.

The Egyptologist discusses his time studying the pyramids.

Thursday, January 11, [2007]: 4 p.m.

Mark Lehner - Bowers Museum - Santa Ana, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, January 10, 2007.

An exhibition featuring ancient artefacts from Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun's tomb will come to Bahrain this March.

The exhibition will continue for four months before it moves to France, Information Ministry Assistant Under-Secretary for Culture and National Heritage Shaikha Mai bint Khalifa Al Khalifa confirmed yesterday.

"This is a big exhibition which normally stays in different places for several months to a year," she said.

"The exhibition will include lots of artefacts and the opening will most likely be March 3..." [my emphasis]

Is this the “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibition or not? If it is then they cannot be talking about 'this' March 3rd as the exhibition will be at the Field Institute in Philadelphia from February 03 to September 30, 2007 after which it move to the Dome, London (casino wrangles allowing) in November 2007 for an unspecified period of time. Following that both Paris and Tokyo have been mentioned. Could Bahrain be March 2008 after London? Or could they be talking about a different exhibition altogether?

Chance to see King Tut's tomb treasure, Tariq Khonji, Gulf Daily News, Bahrain, Vol. XXIX, No. 294, January 08, 2007.

Previously:

Bahrain to host Tutankhamun exhibition, January 08, 2007.

'King Tut' coming to Bahrain, November 07, 2006.

'King Tut' set for Bahrain, September 27, 2006.

The Official Bahrain Nation Museum website appears to be down at the moment. Some information on the Bahrain Nation Museum can be found here.