By Mursi Saad El-Din The latest issue of Museum International, a quarterly published for UNESCO by Blackwell Publishing, is entirely devoted to the "Heritage Landscape of Egypt". It contains 18 articles, 16 of which are by Egyptian academics and researchers. Like all other UNESCO publications, this issue was translated and published in Arabic by UNESCO Publications Centre in Cairo which serves all Arab countries. The issue is introduced by Isabelle Vinson, the editor-in- chief of Museum International who visited Egypt a few months ago. During her visit she met with the minister of culture and leading intellectuals. In her editorial, Vinson stresses that "[s]ince the 1992 earthquake in Cairo, we have been witnessing the exponential growth of projects that seek to preserve and enhance the historical diversity of Egypt's heritage, from the remains of the Pharaonic and Islamic periods to today's intangible heritage..." The fact that most of the contributors are Egyptian is quite significant, given that the fields of museology and archaeology have been traditionally dominated by Westerners. In the words of Vinson, this decision to host Egyptian contributors "represents an investigation into qualities of knowledge that are different to those deriving from a long tradition, in particular archaeological, related to the colonial past and to the capitalisation of that period". As Vinson goes on to assert, "Egypt is, in its totality, a heritage icon for the world. Yet this status does not forbid a timely reassessment of its components, based on contemporary developments and the resurgence of a mythical past." Beside the 16 Egyptian contributors, there are two non-Egyptians, Anna Paolini of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Division, and Christian Leblanc, the director of the French Archaeological Mission of Western Thebes since 1991. In the first article, "A New Era for Museums in Egypt", Zahi Hawass traces the transition in Egypt from a view of museums as locations for storage to one where their full potential as educational institutions can be explored. From his comprehensive account, we learn that more attention will be devoted to "site" museums, to be built near the entrances of archaeological sites where they would house artefacts that have come from local excavations. The first such museum is the Imhotep Museum at Saqqara. Other site museums are planned for Kom Ombo. Bahariyya Oasis, Siwa, and Delta towns. As for specialised museums, which focus on aspects of the cultures of Egyptian civilisation, the one planned for Minya will concentrate on the history of the city of Akhenaten and highlight his reign. A mosaic museum is planned for Alexandria, a portrait museum for Fayyoum, a coin museum at the citadel, and a textile museum in Old Cairo. Beside these yet to be established museums, two have already been completed, the first being the Mummification Museum in Luxor, the second an extension of the Luxor Museum. Meanwhile, extant museums -- the Graeco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic museums -- are currently closed for renovations. They will be refurbished with new lighting, libraries, educational facilities and other amenities for visitors. The highlight of the museum programme is the three principal museums in Cairo: the Grand Museum of Egypt, to be built near the pyramids, the National Civilisation Museum at Fustat, and the existing Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square. Apart from the display of artefacts, a number of museum schools are in the offing. Already in 2002 the Cairo Museum School for Adults opened. Plans are afoot for similar projects in Ismailiyya, Beni Sweif, Minia and Mallawi. In addition to Hawass's article, the volume includes articles that flesh out his comments about extant or planned museums, articles devoted to exploring the relationship between museum or archaeological site and community, as well as texts about the modern heritage of Cairo and current conservation practices.
