By Zahi Hawass On a recent visit to Qatar I signed a contract with the Department of Antiquities to train young Qatari archaeologists in the best conservation and excavation techniques. The training school will be at the famous site of Amarna in Middle Egypt. Before I left Cairo, Farouk Hosni, the minister of culture, told me that while I was in Qatar I would meet a man named Sheikh Seoud, who is in love with Ancient Egypt, and especially with Akhenaten. He added that he had asked Mustafa Hussein our famous Cartoonist, to draw a cartoon of this man wearing an Ancient Egyptian costume and crown. As a result of the illustration Sheikh Seoud became Akhenaten himself. When I met Sheikh Seoud I found him to be highly educated and intelligent. He was well informed about the Amarna Period and the Pharaoh who believed in one god, Akhenaten. The Pharaoh Akhenaten established a new religion, which worshipped the sun disk, the Aten, and made his capital at a site known as Amarna. The new god was depicted as the disk of the Sun with hands reaching out to Akhenaten and his family. The Egyptians could only worship the Aten through Akhenaten. Therefore, after Akhenaten died the power of the cult of Amun, which had been banned by Akhenaten, was revived and the court returned to Thebes leaving Amarna and the new religion to be covered by sand and forgotten. Sheikh Seoud buys antiquities from all over the world, but he ensures that the artefacts he acquires have not been stolen. He has a great collection of artefacts from Amarna that he purchased from Europe and America for millions of dollars. During my visit to Qatar I was very impressed with the capital, Doha. The city contains new high-rise buildings, new roads and a new educational system. I found that this modern city has no parallel. I gave a talk about the secrets of the Pyramids at Doha, and Sheikh Seoud invited about 200 guests, all of whom came to dinner after my lecture. I was impressed with the audience's knowledge about Ancient Egypt and it made me say that the Pharaohs live in Doha as they live in Dubai. Sheikh Seoud invited the promising young archaeologist Ayman Abdel- Moneim, the great British Egyptologist Barry Kemp, who is excavating in Amarna and has made important discoveries at the site, and myself to lunch. During lunch I explained about the Site Management Project we are now preparing, which will change the site of Amarna and highlight its archaeological elements in such a way as to preserve the site. I continued to tell them about the visitors centre that will be there to educate tourists about Amarna, one of the most important sites in Egypt. Michael Mallison, an English architect who has been working at Amarna for years, has designed the centre and chosen the location. After lunch, we went on a tour of the zoo around Sheikh Seoud's villa. This private zoo is owned by the sheikh, and contains all kinds of domestic and wild animals. The animals are from all over the world, and are kept in a natural environment. English experts care for them and are in charge of the zoo. The zoo also contains an area that has many types of exotic birds. I learnt that Sheikh Seoud continued this zoo as a hobby after the death of his father and that he arranges educational tours for children. I was extremely impressed by the vast knowledge of this remarkable man. When we approached the storage room for his antiquities I did not enter because my policy is not to see any Egyptian antiquities in private homes, only in museums. Later I met Sheikh Seoud, and he told me that he is willing to give all the Amarna artefacts back to Egypt. I told him that this was an important decision and that we would create a special room in the Akhenaten Museum in Minia bearing his name, the "Sheikh Seoud Exhibition Hall". When standing in front of Sheikh Seoud I couldn't help but think that if I believed in reincarnation I would believe that we were standing in front of Akhenaten, for he looks like him, knows about him and loves the Amarna Period. Some people today criticise our agreement with Qatar but I hope that they can read the agreement published in many newspapers. It is for the benefit of archaeology. Correction: There was an unfortunate error in the editing of Zahi Hawass's last column entitled "Ambassadors remembered". The paragraph concerned should have read: "Another wonderful man is the present German ambassador, Kobler, who has come recently to Egypt. He has already entered our hearts, because he loves this country and is working hard to improve relations between Egypt and Germany. He is currently making plans to take the new Tutankhamun exhibit, now in Basel, to Bonn. Derek Plumbly, the current ambassador from England, is another wonderful addition to Egypt. In fact, he has an Egyptian wife named Nadia. On Derek and Nadia's first day in Egypt, I went to a party at their house. I could see right away that Egypt would love him, not because his wife is Egyptian, but because of his sincerity and love for the Egyptians."
