AFTER a long closure the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo is soon expected to be officially re- inaugurated by President Mubarak, Nevine El-Aref reports. Serenity has at last descended on Old Cairo's religious compound (Mogamaa Al-Adian) with the roar of loaders and tractor that have blocked the entrance to the Coptic Museum during renovation gone for good. The Coptic Museum, with a limestone façade that bears a resemblance to that of Al-Aqmar Mosque, is being titivated for a grand opening. After 30 months of total restoration the elegant landmark is to have its official inauguration, completing the attraction of the area's religious centre which includes the Amr Ibn Al-'As Mosque, the Jewish Synagogue of Beni-Ezra and a number of old churches. "This restoration of the Coptic Museum was an ambitious scheme," Culture Minister Farouk Hosni says. "It is one of Cairo's oldest, and [its restoration] is an indication of the government's commitment to preserving the nation's Coptic shrine, as well as its pharaonic and Islamic heritage." Old-time visitors to the museum will notice a huge difference. The splendid original building built by Morqus Semeika Pasha in 1910, closed for safety reasons after the 1992 Cairo earthquake, has been renovated, while the new building which opened in 1947 has been upgraded with the latest technology to rival the most up- to-date museums. The new vision of the Coptic Museum is an extraordinary achievement executed by some 15 specialists, 150 Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) restorers and 200 workmen. Hussein El-Shabouri, the consultant engineer responsible for the restoration, told Al-Ahram Weekly that when the project began two-and-a- half years ago the museum was in a very critical condition. The walls of the old wing had cracked in the earthquake, the ceiling decorations were stained with smoke to such an extent that they were totally covered up, and the mashrabiya façades were broken. As for the 1947 wing, this was badly affected by subterranean water leakage which had destroyed part of the floor. Further, there were no emergency exits. To rescue the buildings of this very special museum the foundations have been consolidated and strengthened by a micro-pile system, which entailed the installation of sharply-pointed columns under the new wing complex. To provide a smooth flow of visitors through the museum galleries, the two wings are now connected by a corridor and the differing floor levels have been readjusted. A hydraulic lift and wheelchair ramps have been installed for handicapped visitors. The painted wooden ceiling of the old wing has been professionally cleaned, uncovering beautiful scenes of Venice and the Bosphorus. In collaboration with the American Research Centre in Egypt (ARCE) and Italian restorers the niches and fresco reliefs showing Adam and Eve and other religious themes have been removed from the walls, consolidated, cleaned, conserved and placed on special display. The missing mashrabiya parts that embellished the façade have been replaced. The display concept has been modified so that the 14,000 exhibits in the museum's 26 galleries are now arranged either according to origin, to chronological order or to the material of the objects. Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the SCA, said all the restoration had been carried out according to the latest and most scientific methods. "Now the museum is up to the international standard set by the International Committee of Museums (ICOM), which puts it in a position to compete with its counterparts in Europe and America," he said. The museum now stood as proudly as it did in the past, Hawass added.
