The Ministry of Antiquities has begun a project to develop the Amarna Visitors' Centre in Minya in partnership with the University of Cambridge's McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. The project is titled Delivering Sustainable Heritage Strategies for Rural Egypt: Community and Archaeology at Tel El-Amarna, and is funded by the Newton-Mosharafa Fund organised by the British Council and the Science and Technology Development Fund, according to Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities at Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities. The project's main effort includes the development of the existing visitors' centre at Tel Al-Amarna, but also includes the development of outreach programmes, training for visitor centre staff, the preparation of a local guidebook, children's education material, a film and an app for use at the site in association with the centre. The project continues a long history of collaboration and partnership between the University of Cambridge and the Tel Al-Amarna site. The visitors' centre was first opened in 2016 to highlight the reign of the quasi-monotheistic King Akhenaten by displaying replicas of the king's tomb along with a collection of fully furnished palaces and houses in Amarna's royal district.
