Dig Days: One day in Alexandria By Zahi Hawass I spent four years studying at the University of Alexandria for my undergraduate degree, which is why I have a special relationship with this beautiful city. A few weeks ago Mirvat Seifeddin, director of Alexandria's Graeco-Roman Museum, informed me that the American Research Centre in Egypt (ARCE), in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and with funding from USAID, had finished the restoration of three mosaics. The three mosaics took approximately six months to restore and are now on display in the museum as masterpieces. The magnificent pieces date from the early history of Alexandria. I arrived at the museum to meet my colleague, Ahmed Abdel-Fatah. Although he has reached the retirement age of 60 we have asked him to continue working because it is impossible to think of the monuments of Alexandria without him. The museum was filled with members of the press and my colleagues from the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria University. We paused to view the first piece, which shows children hunting gazelles surrounded by mythical animals. This piece has been stored in the museum since being discovered, and this is the first time that it has been shown to the public. Now tourists can witness the beauty of this piece. We continued our tour, pausing in front of the second piece. This depicts a Potolamic queen representing the city of Alexandria, and wearing a headdress in the shape of a boat. She is ruling the country because her husband, the king, is occupied in leading Egypt into war against Syria. Her husband has sent her news of his victory and says he has reached the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. This mosaic piece was discovered in 1936 at Temai Al-Amdid, a site in Daqahlia. The third piece shows a unique scene from Greek mythology. It tells of the love story between a river and Orpheus, who are depicted in the shape of a woman and a man. The scientific conservation of the three mosaic pieces is a good illustration of the dedicated work of ARCE. I believe that a positive change took place when Mark Easton, an active and energetic scholar, came to Egypt as its director. I began to see ARCE, with the support of USAID, involved in several important projects in Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic Cairo. ARCE has recently appointed a new director, Gary Scott, who is active and keen to help with the archaeology of Egypt. This can be seen in the field trips to teach our young inspectors excavation techniques, as well as in the great work at Bab Zuweila. We opened the renovated gate here with my dear friend US Ambassador David Welsh and the minister of culture, Farouk Hosni. The restoration of the site, which was carried out by Niry Hampikian, has restored the essence of the past -- we even found some Pharaonic pieces that had been re-used in the Islamic building. I told my friend Betsy Bryan that the best thing she had ever done was to fight for Gary Scott to be head of ARCE. I like to go on Fridays to witness the beauty of this place. When Mark Linz, head of AUC Press, published my book about Tutankhamun called The Golden Age of King Tutankhamun, he chose this place to launch the book and other books written by AUC authors. ARCE also helped us with a problem at the Coptic Museum. Three paintings were inserted into the wall construction, becoming part of the museum. When we closed the museum for renovations, we could not leave the paintings in the wall. We therefore had to move them, but we were afraid that they would be damaged. Luckily, Gary Scott and Chip Vincent accepted this challenge and began to move the paintings safely. The renovations at the museum are being carried out under our new policy to change museums from storage facilities to institutions with an educational and cultural message. I believe that ARCE's work in Egypt could be the best for conservation and restoration of the monuments.
