Cairo Museum (Tahrir Square) to be developed

Egypt State Information Service

Egypt and Italy signed a cooperation protocol to develop the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square and re-display the antiquities in it.

The Egyptian Culture Minister said that Egyptian-Italian cooperation was distinguished in the political, economic and cultural spheres, pointing out that a Memorandum of Understanding was inked between the two sides today.

Under the MoU, Italy will assist Egypt in developing the Egyptian Museum after relocating the largest number of ancient artifacts to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), located on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road.

The GEM, due to open in 2011, covers 50 hectares of land in Giza.

Following the relocation process, the Italian side will commence the project which aims at turning the Egyptian Museum into a home to unique antiquities and at a total cost of 1.319 million euros. Hosni pointed out that the project would turn the museum into a great architectural and cultural edifice.

On his part, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawwas said that the Egyptian Museum development project is meant to overhaul the museum from inside and outside to keep abreast of the latest museum technologies via providing it with an electronic security system, including burglar alarms and monitors.

The project will provide training courses for the museum employees to improve their professional skills in the field of wood, glass, metals, papyrus, clothes and leather repair and restoration work, Hawwas said.

Moreover, the project will provide training courses in the various domains, including computer, archaeological photography and the science of museum, he added.