CULTURE-EGYPT: World’s Biggest Museum On Its Way

By Cam McGrath Reprint | | Print |

Cam McGrath

CAIRO, Aug 17 2002 (IPS) - Plans to build the world’s largest museum by the side of the Pyramids in Egypt have resulted for the moment in a pyramid of paperwork.

An international competition to design a new home for Egypt’s priceless ancient treasures has resulted in a huge pile of designs submitted.

More than 2,200 architects and design houses from 105 countries paid 300 dollars each to register for the contest and receive its thick and glossy book of guidelines. Organisers say half the competitors have entered their designs and expected the number to reach 80 per cent by the submission deadline at noon on Saturday. It will be some weeks before the final figure is released.

“It’s been a huge success,” says Yasser Mansour, the technical committee co-ordinator. The new museum to be built on a 480,000 square metre site will be the largest in the world, he says, though it may not hold the largest number of exhibits.

A nine-member jury selected by the International Union of Architects (IUA) will choose 20 finalists. Each will be given 10,000 dollars to prepare technical details of their designs for the second phase of the competition.

The jury will pick the winner in April next year. The winner gets a prize of 250,000 dollars, with 150,000 dollars for second place and 100,000 dollars for third.

Egypt’s main archaeological collection is currently on display in a museum on a traffic-clogged square in downtown Cairo. Opened in 1902, its collection of 35,000 objects has since grown to more than 150,000. Of these about 30,000 objects are kept boxed in the basement for lack of display space. The building lacks modern exhibition and air-conditioning systems.

The new museum will come up on a site 2.5 kilometres north of the Giza Pyramids. The site was selected after a two-million dollar feasibility study funded by the Italian government.

“The chosen site is close to the Pyramids on elevated ground and has a nice panoramic view of the Pyramids and of Cairo,” says Mansour. “Its construction there will make it possible to visit the Pyramids and the museum in one trip.”

More than three million visitors a year are expected at the “Grand Egyptian Museum” when it opens in late 2006. Its extensive facilities will include a conference centre, a specialised library, conservation labs, a research centre, an entertainment area, a craft centre and a museum for children and the handicapped.

The new museum will incorporate state-of-the-art technology. The latest multimedia technology will show off exhibits, and a virtual museum will be set up on the internet.

“Virtual reality will help in terms of simulation of the museum’s rooms, so that you could navigate through it on your computer,” says Nora Atef Ebeid, finance manager for the project. “You could also use simulation to reconstruct the archaeological sites of the objects in the museum, or to reconstruct an object of which you have only a piece in the museum.”

Ebeid says the museum will cost 350 million dollars to build. Fund-raising efforts will target individuals, companies, foundations, foreign governments and international governments.

“Entry tickets will be a main source of revenue for the museum,” she says. Additional revenue will come through sponsorship and from rent and licensing fee from shopping and dining facilities.

More than 100,000 artefacts will be transferred from the old museum to the new one, including some 4,000 objects from Tutankhamun’s Tomb and the famous mummy collection. The tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun (the only tomb ever found intact) who reigned in the 14th century BC was discovered in 1922 and is considered by many to be the greatest archaeological find in history, certainly in Egypt.

But the old museum will stay. After restoration work it will exhibit a selection of about 30,000 objects.

“We will exhibit the masterpieces of Egyptian art in this museum and we hope to highlight ancient Egyptian art, antiquities, reliefs, paintings and sculptures,” says Mohammed Saleh, archaeological supervisor of the project.