Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Museum update

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6763
The Egypt Today website has two short features on their Culture 101 page, above, re the establishment of two new museums in Egypt.

New museum in Hurghada
"Hurghada will soon be home to a the first national museum on the Red Sea coast, the Ministry of Culture announced last month, saying the facility will house antiquities discovered in the Eastern Desert. Located on the water’s edge to encompass submerged monuments as well, the 22,000-square-meter facility will have four display halls, artists’ studios and performance spaces. The museum will give tourists heading to Hurghada from abroad the chance to sample the complete spectrum of Egyptian history — from Pharaonic through Islamic eras — at one destination."

Grand Egyptian Museum to open in 2011?
"The government of Japan last month finalized a $300 million loan to Egypt for the construction of the new Grand Egyptian Museum on the Giza Plateau. Japan’s ambassador to Cairo and Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga inked the loan agreement at a public signing ceremony. The Ministry of Culture had initially said that construction of the GEM should wrap up by the end of 2009, but the only building block now in place is the foundation stone set by President Hosni Mubarak in 2002.
Farouk Abdel Salam, first undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, says that construction will start soon, adding that he expects the GEM to be ready for its first guests in 2011. "

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