For the first time since the 2011 Revolution archaeologists, curators and restorers have had a minister of their own. In Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb's second cabinet, Mamdouh Al-Damati takes the post; and his integrity and qualification are widely accepted as impeccable. An intellectual by nature, an Egyptologist by education and an academic by profession, Al-Damati's record as director of the Egyptian Museum and supervisor of International Archaeological Exhibitions Committee has been spotless. In 2011 Al-Damati became Egypt's cultural attaché in Germany and head of the educational delegation bureau in Berlin. Since 2006, he has also served as chairman of the Archaeology Department of the Faculty of Arts at Ain Shams University as well as being Dean of the Faculty of Arts there. Al-Damati received his BA and MA in ancient Egyptian antiquities from Cairo University, as well as a PhD in ancient Egyptian antiquities from Trier University in Germany. He has served on the board of directors of several cultural, scientific and archaeological institutions in Egypt, receiving two awards: Italian knighthood in 2004 and the State Distinction Award in 2010. In his warm and spacious ministerial office in a four-storey building in Zamalek, Al-Damati seems at ease speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly. The off-white walls are studded with framed pictures, exuding a minimalist elegance. A large flag of Egypt and a huge golden replica of the God of Justice Maat stand beside his elegant desk. He is familiar with the room, where — as Director General of the Egyptian Museum from 2001 to 2004 — he used to meet with secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Gabala Ali Gabala and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass. His hair has grayed a little perhaps since then, but his humble character, sense of humour and ingratiating smile remain unchanged. Archaeologists feel Al-Damati's track record will allow him to manage Egypt's antiquities and heritage portfolio more efficiently, since he is familiar with the ministry's different sections and its many hidden doors. They also say that his relative youth will make his rhythm appropriately speedy. However suited to the job, however, Al-Damati's will be no easy task, with negligence of monuments stored and exhibited topping the list of urgent issues. The Ministry of Antiquities and Heritage (MAH) also suffers from a small budget that will prevent work from being completed, be it the construction of new museums or the development of existing ones. Since 2011, when the ministry was formed (to be renamed with the word “heritage” added on Al-Damati's arrival), several archaeological projects have been on hold including the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) overlooking the Giza Plateau and the National Egyptian Museum for Egyptian Civilization (NEMEC) as well as the development of the Giza Plateau itself. Another pressing issue has been the breakdown of security, allowing encroachment on and destruction, looting and smuggling of sites and monuments. Al-Damati seems remarkably upbeat for a man bearing that much of a burden, and he confidently vows to improve both infrastructure and personnel. “My job is to embody a new vision and carry out an action plan to properly preserve antiquities for eternity and upgrade the skills of MAH staff, sprucing up efforts to resume archaeological projects now on hold.” Al-Damati explains that he has started collecting detailed “status reports” on every unit, department and administration in the ministry as well as in museums and archaeological sites across the country. These reports will provide him with all the information required about the ministry's administrative echelon, the employees' financial conditions and finished and unfinished projects. He also asked department heads to provide their own visions or plans to develop their respective departments, including suggested solutions to problems. This will form the basis of the ministry's strategy on how to deal with challenges. “In fact,” Al-Damati asserted, “I have a determined vision on how to deal with problems and carry out my duties, but working in collaboration with the ministry's top officials and employees will provide a broader perspective, which has its own positive impact.” Al-Damati pointed out that he is planning to work on four rather than just two levels, tackling the public and society as well as MAH monuments and employees. “Visitors and society at large are very important elements to work with in order to promote and preserve our monuments, which in its turn will raise our GDP,” he said, adding that the public is the main focus of many countries' tourism policies. In Germany, for example, there is the Institute for Museum Research, Al-Damati says, a part of whose work is to provide research on services provided by museums to visitors and how to raise their satisfaction levels. In Egypt such an interest has started to come through: one MA he discussed was on the topic. Satisfaction levels are raised by providing better services including information centres, quality restaurants, bookshops and souvenir shops, proper facilities and personable guides with the right information. Al-Damati went on to detail his plans. Society will be covered through collaboration with the ministries of education, culture and youth and sports as well as all Egypt's governorates in order to raise archaeological awareness among Egyptians. During national-holiday promenades at archeological sites, for example, children should be taught not to deface or harm monuments. To this end, a new department dedicated to cultural awareness has been added to MAH that will target schools and universities, with such services as a general booklet on Egyptian history to be taught for a week by a qualified archeologist. Booklets on the history of every governorate in Egypt are to be published and taught in the relevant schools as well. “There were a few separate attempts in previous years to raise archaeological awareness, like the Friends of the Egyptian Museums, for example,” Al-Damati says. “It's about time these efforts were unified into a single effective scheme.” Al-Damati says MAH will at the same time resume its work on protecting and preserving the country's monuments in a new way. It will not only depend on restoring and opening them to public but developing and inaugurating new sites in remote areas as well: Madi city in Fayoum and Behbit Al-Hegara in the Delta and the Al-Mamalik necropolis in Cairo. “If we leave these sites neglected as is the case now they will fall into oblivion within a few years because they will be subjected to looting.” If they are developed and opened to the public that will provide employment, security and tourist income. But how will this goal be achieved without financial resources? Al-Damati says he and his team will search for new and unconventional sources of funding. “I will ask foreign missions who come to excavate in Egypt to carry out some restoration work and develop the required sites and I am sure that they will not say no.” Al-Damati will spare no effort in completing the stalled projects, he says: “I will start with the NEMEC because much work was exerted in its construction and preparation, which all stopped due to the country's conditions. The second is the GEM because it is Egypt's mega project. This does not mean that I will work on these two projects and leave the others,” he is quick to add. To ensure that the action plan Al-Damati has drawn up is properly executed, the minister has embarked on inspection tours of sites and museums all over Cairo as a first step. He visited the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the Giza Plateau, GEM, NEMEC, Khufu's second solar boat in restoration and Al-Muizz Street in Islamic Cairo. Inspection trips are also planned for sites in Alexandria, the Delta, Luxor and Aswan. He also visited the MAH building in Al-Abassiya. During these visits he met with employees and listened to their problems, suggesting ways of improving such sites and also promising to meet the employees' demands. Al-Damati explains that another goal of his strategy is to put into execution the antiquities law of 117 0f 1983 and its amendments in 2010, which has not been correctly applied since 2011. He says that the MAH won several court cases concerning sites that were subjected to encroachment but the situation of the sites in question remains unchanged because the law is not applied. Such is the case, for example, with the Black Pyramid of King Amenemhat III. “I will also resume the documentation of artefacts whether on display in museums or stored in the ministry's different galleries,” Al-Damati adds. This will help in the battle to recover stolen and illegally smuggled artefacts. The lack of documentation stands against the recovery of several objects. Based on his good friendship with the Germans, will Al-Damati manage to recover the priceless bust of Queen Nefertiti? Despite all documents that prove that the bust of Queen Nefertiti left Egypt by fraud, the official papers issued and signed by Egypt's Head of Antiquities Authority at the time does not state that. “That is why Egypt has failed to retrieve the bust despite all efforts exerted since 1922,” Al-Damati asserted. He recounts that the French Head of the Antiquities Authority in 1922 had prohibited the Germans from excavating in Egypt for five years in return for their refusal to return Nefertiti's bust. An agreement was made to exchange the bust with another three statues but German citizens went on a strike to stop the removal of Nefertiti's bust and the agreement failed. Four other attempts have been made since 1933, the last being Hawass' in 2005; all failed because of lack of documents. “Still,” Al-Damati promised. “I will retrieve all the stolen objects that have been smuggled out of the country.” Asked whether he will continue with the policy of sending ancient Egyptian exhibitions abroad, Al-Damati said such exhibitions were good ambassadors for Egypt and its civilisation and encouraged people to visit the country. “Holding exhibitions abroad,” he added, “is an international policy that is a part of the culture of science, art and civilisation. When a museum is being restored, it does not usually store its collection but sends it to exhibitions abroad.” Under Gaballa Ali Gaballa Egypt worked closely with the British, under Hawass with the Americans. Will it work closely with Germans under Al-Damati's? “Definitely not,” Al-Damati asserts. He will cooperate with the entire world to protect and develop Egypt's heritage. “I am really very optimistic and I feel that more can be implemented to do that.”
