Coptic Museum to reopen soon

http://www.algomhuria.net.eg/gazette/2/

"The renovations at the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo continue. They are a major project that will make the museum one of the best in the world. The exhibitions and display halls are being overhauled and the museum will reopen next month. The Coptic Museum contains precious Coptic monuments dating back many centuries. It also contains precious stones, metals, icons and manuscripts that tell us a lot about religion in Egypt before the dawn of Islam. 'The museum, located near Mari Girgis Underground Station, was constructed by Markos Pasha Semeika in 1910, in order to house the antiquities he'd collected from old churches and monasteries,' says Mohamed Abdel-Fattah, head of the Museums Sector, adding that Semeika built an extension in 1950, comprising 17 halls for displaying 15,000 antiquities. 'The museum also contains many paintings and precious icon, as well as agricultural implements and medical instruments,' Abdel-Fattah added, noting that Semeika decided to build this museum in Old Cairo near the Amr Ibn el-Aas Mosque, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and a number of Orthodox churches, representing the three heavenly religions." (Hassan Saadallah, Egyptian Gazette)