Ever since it was set on fire during the 25 January Revolution, the former National Democratic Party (NDP) headquarters building continues to be an ugly landmark on the Cairo skyline, encouraging some to propose ideas for new uses. Some have suggested that the building be turned into a landmark that highlights the Revolution, such as the preserved surviving sections of the Berlin Wall, while others have been more practical and suggested that the building be converted into a hotel or administrative building or the land be used for a public park. Such suggestions have raised the anger of the Egyptian Museum's curators as the land on which the former NDP headquarters stands was originally owned by the museum. According to documents held at the Egyptian Registry and Land Survey Authority, the land was part of the museum when the latter was constructed in 1901. It was originally used as a dock for cargo vessels transporting antiquities down the river from Luxor, Aswan and the rest of Upper Egypt to the Egyptian Museum for restoration or display. In 1887, a ceremony was held at the dock to welcome the royal mummies recovered by the then antiquities director Gaston Maspero from a secret cache in Luxor where they were hidden by priests during the New Kingdom. Maps drawn up in 1911 and 1926 show a bookshop and cafeteria on the land, while on the west of the site stood the museum's workshops and storehouses. After the 1952 Revolution, the land was sequestrated by the government from the Egyptian Antiquities Authority, now the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA), and was used by various parts of the regime. The last incumbent was the NDP, which shared the large Nile-side premises with the National Council for Women, various national agencies and the Arab Bank. On the evening of 28 January 2011, the building was gutted by fire in the midst of fierce attacks by thugs and vandals during demonstrations in Tahrir Square. “In its present condition the building is a time bomb close to the museum,” Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that the building posed a real threat to the museum and its priceless collection. The former NDP headquarters was considered unsafe and could collapse at any time, he said. All official documents proved that the area was MSA property and should be returned to the museum, he added. The minister suggested that once it had regained the land, the museum could use the area as an open-air museum showcasing some of the museum's collection, which is now short of space in the building itself. It could also be used as a hall for temporary exhibitions to attract more visitors to the Museum. He said that not all of the burned building needed to be demolished, and a small section could be conserved and kept in site as part of the story of the 2011 Revolution, serving a similar purpose to the Berlin Wall. A memo had been sent to former prime minister Hisham Qandil asking for a speedy handover of the land, but nothing had been done, he said. The situation continued until a car bomb exploded near the Cairo Security Directorate in the Bab Al-Khalq area as Egypt celebrated the third anniversary of the 25 January Revolution. The explosion hit the adjacent Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and damaged the neo-Mamluke edifice and a large number of artefacts. Afraid that the Egyptian Museum could meet the same fate as the MIA in the absence of a buffer zone around it, curators, employees and workers at the museum sent a petition to the government asking for the return of the neighbouring land that houses the burned NDP headquarters building to its original owner. According to the petition, the area could be used as a buffer zone for the museum which would not only help protect it from destruction but would also help its administration use it for purposes furthering the museum's development and activities. According to a source from the Egyptian Museum speaking on condition of anonymity, almost 1,750 people had signed the petition since it was circulated on the Internet three weeks ago. “We hope that if 20,000 people sign it and it is sent to Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi positive action will be taken,” the source said. The source said that providing a buffer zone around the museum, instead of having it situated right next to another building, was important for security. He said that the museum, situated in Tahrir Square, was in the middle of a volatile environment, though the artefacts and staff could be evacuated using the Nile if necessary. “Tahrir Square is full of hotels, and it does not need another one on land that could be used to expand the museum,” the source said, adding that the NDP building was also a potential hazard to the public. “We do not know how stable the building is after the fire that took place and the damage it caused,” the source concluded. Ahmed Sharaf, head of the museums section at the MSA, told the Weekly that he wanted to see the petition achieve its goal and the land returned to its original owner. He said that this would be beneficial since it would provide another entrance to the museum from the Nile Corniche, which would reduce traffic on Tahrir Square. It would also help the museum to become more attractive, since the land could be turned into a garden similar to the one built by the Pharaoh Amenhotep III at the Karnak Temple. This garden could be planted with papyri and lotus flowers, he said, and a collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts could be exhibited in it. Yasmin Al-Shazly, head of documentation at the museum, told the Weekly that in order to help the museum regain its original glory after its share of misfortunes since the 2011 Revolution, the museum's curators and employees had founded an association, the Patrons of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (PEMC), part of an NGO called Nahdet Al-Mahrousa. According to its timeline on Facebook, the PEMC is a group supporting the Egyptian Museum that was founded in 2013 and aims to support the museum's management and MSA in achieving four main goals. The first is to establish a wide-reaching support network for the Museum with other institutions and individuals through projects and protocols of cooperation. The second is to foster museum projects and academic research through fundraising and support. The third is to help empower the museum's staff, and the fourth is to generate public interest in the museum and Egyptian heritage. Al-Shazly said that the idea of establishing the PEMC had emerged when an offer to repaint some of the museum's galleries was made after the 2011 Revolution. “We decided then that it would be better to set up an association to coordinate such offers, and the PEMC was founded under the umbrella of Nahdet Al-Mahrousa because the latter offers support and space to work until the PEMC has become more established and can be registered as an NGO in its own right,” she said. “The museum needs a support group,” Al-Shazly said, adding that the institution itself was not able to accept donations or contributions directly and this made it difficult to receive funds. Present funding was allocated by the MSA, she said. The new PEMC consists of six committees: Egyptology and museology, financial and legal, media, public relations, educational and public outreach and technical. It is now negotiating a cooperation protocol with the museum that will allow it to aid the museum in raising funds and help with issues such as IT and security. The PEMC is not an open group because it is not yet an independent NGO. However, when it is registered, all interested persons are welcome to become members.
