[CPProt.net] ICOM's annual meeting in Alexandria last week was less successful than hoped for

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

All quiet in museum corridors
ICOM's annual meeting in Alexandria last week was less successful than hoped
for. Nevine El-Aref attended 

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The International Council of Museums (ICOM), the international non-profit
organisation for museums and museum professionals, has held its AGM in
Alexandria, and it went off without any of the glitches which had been
expected to dog the meeting. 

ICOM is committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to
society of the world's natural and cultural heritage, present and future,
tangible and intangible. Since its creation in 1946, ICOM has maintained
formal relations with UNESCO and has a consultative status with the United
Nations' Economic and Social Council. It also arranges and organises
activities for its 21,000 members, including workshops, publications, and
training programmes, and the promotion of museums through International
Museum Day. ICOM also organises an annual meeting in one of its 140
participant countries where more than 300 museologists and archaeologists
gather to discuss the latest museological ethics, exchange knowledge,
propose further achievements of the various disciplines of museology and
introduce new development theories.

This year the ICOM meeting was held in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
overlooking the Alexandrian shoreline. Its quadrilateral halls and corridors
were buzzing with almost 200 Egyptologists, historians, restorers, curators
and museologists from around the world, who were there to exchange recent
museological theories, studies and private experience in developing and
upgrading displays. The packed schedule included a variety of issues.
Attendance at the simple opening ceremony was low, since it coincided with
another conference on the dialogue of civilisations. In his speech Ismail
Serageldin, director of the Bibliotheca, said museums had unique potential
for addressing and fostering cultural understanding in interdisciplinary
ways and reaching a wide cross- section of the world's population. He called
on all museum curators to play a role in building bridges of cooperation to
achieve their goals and create a channel for civilisation and cultural
dialogue.

He also said that since its inauguration the library had organised almost
500 events and had been visited by 30 million people. Serageldin promised
that over the forthcoming five years the library would complete all the
issues placed on hold in an attempt to revive Egypt's past. 

In his speech, delivered by Sabri Abdel-Aziz, head of the Ancient Egyptian
section at the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), SCA Secretary-General
Zahi Hawass revealed the council's new philosophy to convert Egyptian
museums from large showcases for genuine artefacts to huge cultural and
educational institutes. He also pointed out that in addition to recent
developments in museums such as the Coptic, Islamic and Egyptian museums, 13
others were on their way in Al-Arish, Sharm El-Sheikh, Alexandria and other
cities and towns of Egypt. They fall into six categories according to their
theme and display scenarios; some are national museums, topical museums, or
site museums. Believing that involving the public in the work will raise
their cultural and archaeological awareness, the SCA has established
archaeological schools for adults and young people as well as creating
Friends NGOs for the three main museums in Cairo, the Egyptian, Coptic and
Islamic museums, which help in financing activities and following up efforts
at improvement. For his part, Sabri said that in an attempt to protect the
artefacts, the second batch of 15 museological storehouses was under
construction according to state-of-the-art technology. The first batch of 33
storehouses was built earlier this year. 

Regine Schulz, chairperson of the International Committee of Egyptology
(CIPEG) at ICOM, called on all museologists to extend a hand in sprucing up
the dialogue and communication with each other and widening the scale of
cooperation worldwide in research and publication. 

"With a dialogue between all colleagues we can create an innovative and good
project for the benefit of the protection of the heritage, and also as we
are museums for all audiences [we] serve from school kids up to scholars,"
Schulz told Al-Ahram Weekly. 

Since Nubia is very important to scholarly research, and since part of it is
in Egypt -- the rest is in Sudan -- Schulz urged the ICOM to approve the
addition of Nubia under the official umbrella of CIPEG.

She told the Weekly that most of the scholars researching Nubia were working
in Egypt. At present the national committee of Sudan is not in effect in
operation, and cooperation with Egypt is for the benefit of scholars.
Discussions are currently underway that will make clear to ICOM that CIPEG
might change its name or focus on Nubia, as well as on Egypt. "We don't plan
to change anything in our direction. We are always interested in Nubia but
we think it is important to make this clear in the name, and I hope that
within the next couple of years we can come up with a conclusion and put
Egypt and Nubia in our name," Schulz added.

Despite the fact that the conference was very well organised and the
lectures ran on schedule, average attendance was modest. Each participant
presented a 20-minute paper on a wide range of museum topics, but without
allowing time for discussion. Furthermore, some lecturers failed to enrich
their speeches with illustrations, which many delegates found boring. It was
even noticeable that some were dozing off during some of the sessions.
Nonetheless, some sessions were vivid and interesting and many Egyptian
junior and senior museologists contributed to the speeches at the
three-day-long conference. 

As the disappearance of three ancient Egyptian items from the Egyptian
Museum basement made local headlines, the lecture by the museum's director,
Wafaa El-Sediq attracted a full audience. In her speech, El-Sediq outlined
all works being achieved to restore and clean the basement in an attempt to
make an inventory of what lies inside, as well as transform it into a museum
storehouse such as the ones in the Louvre or the British Museum. "We are now
exploring the basement, which is a maze of corridors overwhelmed with
genuine artefacts and wooden boxes full with ancient Egyptian and
prehistoric stuff," El-Sediq said, describing the task as "mission
impossible". She continued that they had to deal not only with sand and dust
covering the whole basement, but also with insects living on the organic
remains that had been analysed through time. The exploration mission in the
basement uncovered a number of painted sarcophagi, huge statues of kings and
deities, mummies and human remains.

Abdel-Halim Nureddin, dean of the faculty of archaeology at Fayoum
University, angrily attacked the methods of some foreign archaeologists in
translating ancient Egyptian terms inserted in the ICOM's official
publications. He criticised certain foreigners for wanting to use the Greek
language in translating ancient Egyptian terms instead of leaving them as
they were. "This is totally against all international traditions," Nureddin
commented, adding that such actions would lead to the wrong pronunciation of
ancient Egyptian terminologies which in turn would rewrite ancient Egyptian
history, as well as the distinction of the language. He gave as examples
Tuna Al-Gabal in Minya governorate which had become Tuna Al-Gebel, and King
Khufu, the owner of the Great Pyramid, who became Cheops. He also called for
a tightening of security measures in museums in order to prevent any further
thefts.

Mervat Seifeddin, director of the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria,
announced that the museum would close for two years as it is a subject of a
development project for comprehensive restoration of the building, which was
constructed in 1895. Showcases will also be renewed, and display methods
developed to bring it in line with the latest museological standards.
Seifeddin told the Weekly that the development project would also rearrange
the museum garden with a view to developing it into an open air museum as
well as installing new lighting and ventilation systems. To facilitate the
visitor's path, a number of information billboards would be provided along
the museum corridors. The museum's library, which includes an overwhelming
number of Arabic, English and French volumes written by travellers who
visited Egypt from the 11th century to modern times, will be also restored,
and all its rare books will be documented on CD to make them available for
students, researchers and whoever is interested in such topics. 

According to the new scenario, the museum's collection will be displayed
chronologically starting with the Greek era before Alexander the Great, the
reign of Alexander the Great, the Ptolemaic era from the reign of Ptolemy I
to Queen Cleopatra, and then the Roman age. Some halls will be devoted to
special collection such as the one devoted to Graeco-Roman coinage, which
comprises a number of gold, silver, bronze and copper coins. Another hall
will be given over to Graeco- Roman deities. Children will have their own
section which will provide simple exhibitions for them in an attempt to
raise their awareness of the Graeco-Roman civilisation. 

Seifeddin said that for the past two years the museum staff had exerted a
major effort to pave the way for the planned development project. Artefacts
which had not yet been listed among the museum's documents had been
registered, and an inventory of the museum's basement had been carried out. 

The Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, like the Egyptian Museum in Cairo,
has a basement stuffed with objects. Some of them belong to various
excavation sites in Alexandria and Marsa-Matrouh, while others are objects
confiscated by the police. About a third are objects belonging to the
museum. Hence, after documentation and restoration, such objects that belong
to archaeological sites have been moved to the huge Marsa-Matrouh
storehouse, while confiscated items have been packed and are waiting to be
exhibited in the museum after the completion of the development project or
in any of the other museums still under construction. 

Christian Ziegler, chief curator of the Egyptian department at the Louvre,
shows the new discoveries by her mission in Saqqara. While cleaning the area
north of the Unas pyramid, the mission found a vast funerary complex of the
ancient Empire centered around the mastaba (bench) tomb of Akhthetep, the
owner of a chapel exhibited in the Louvre.

Ziegler said that successive excavations had unearthed vestiges of monuments
built of mud brick and stones that dated from the Coptic period, with the
material inscribed and found in situ indicating that these buildings
belonged very close to the monastery of Saint Jeremiah. The lower levels
reveal the existence of a necropolis of the first millennium with a large
number of polychrome sarcophagi. The tombs found are intact and filled with
remarkable funerary collections and several mummies. "Up to now we do not
know the exact date of this necropolis, but it could be dated to the 26th
Dynasty," Ziegler said. She promised that during the coming archaeological
season further studies would reveal more secrets from this necropolis.

Gabriele Pieke from Bonn University spoke of her institution's experience in
developing its permanent museum of ancient Egyptian artefacts, while Selima
Ikram of the American University in Cairo gave a talk on the project in the
animal mummy room and the pre-dynastic project in the Egyptian Museum. Ayman
Abdel-Moneim, director of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation,
presented his own experiences in bringing the museum to light after four
years of planning. 

On the fringe of the conference a special exhibition displaying 50 black and
white photographs made by 19th-century travellers has been held at the
National Museum of Alexandria. Injy Fayed, head of the cultural development
section at the SCA, said the exhibition, which features ancient Egyptian
sites in the early 19th century, would last for three months in order to
provide an opportunity for all Alexandrians to visit it. 


Al-Ahram Weekly.