Talking Pyramids

With the building of the new Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza, over 70% of the artifacts in the old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir square will be removed to be housed in the new museum.

The old Museum in downtown Cairo will have more room to display the remaining items and is being redesigned to better present them to the visitor. Important pieces that have not had the opportunity to be fully displayed will now be able to be prominently positioned for all to see.

The redesign is in collaboration with the Italian government with a budget of 1 319 000 euros. A new museum shop, rearrangement of the exhibition space, new showcases, and an improved lighting system are all planned as part of the redesign.

Work will begin in three months time but in the mean time an exhibition will mark the occasion.

From the Al Ahram:

“To highlight the history of the Egyptian Museum and the story behind its construction, an exhibition displaying 160 of its earliest artefacts, documents, letters, the tools used in its construction, photographs and architectural designs is being organised to precede renovation. Last Sunday, in the temporary exhibition hall on the museum’s first floor, a number of journalists, photographers, archaeologists and top officials gathered to inaugurate the first ever exhibition relating the museum’s history. Items of display include the construction tools used by Khedive Abbas Helmi II to lay the museum’s foundation stone in 1897, the ink jar and quill used by Auguste Mariette, and a volume of the Journal D’Entre, created by Mariette to register every object that entering the collection, accompanied by a summary description and essential data on provenance and its location. A 19th-century decorative clock is also on display, along with the original copy of the museum’s architectural design drawn by the French architect Marcel Dourgnon. A collection of objects featuring some of the first 5,000 objects that formed the museum is also on show.”

The exhibition will begin in early November.

Read the full story: The GEM of history

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