Seventeen months after its pyramid-shaped foundation stone was laid, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation's first phase is nearing completion. Nevine El-Aref witnessed the signing of its contract Journalists and photographers gathered at the elegant Ministry of Culture edifice last Tuesday to witness the official nod to the long-awaited National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation, planned to display the span of Egypt's various civilisations. Built at the edge of Lake Ain Al-Sira on the site of the mediaeval city of Fustat, the ambitious museum will put on show Egypt's diverse civilisations from pre-historic to modern times. On display will be 150,000 artefacts carefully selected from museums and storehouses throughout Egypt. Exhibits featuring Egyptian culture and identity, as well as the skills and achievements that its history has witnessed, will also be organised within the museum's walls. Located beside the rich archaeological ground of Old Cairo where the Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque, the Hanging Church and the Beni Ezra Synagogue have welcomed visitors for centuries, the museum is designed to integrate with its surroundings. The building itself is influenced by the architectural paradigms of its brilliant collection, hence its exterior featuring a somewhat neutral, simple look that suits its timelessness. "Let me express my congratulations to Cairo for hosting such a great museum, which will be a living memory of Egypt's various civilisations," Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said as he witnessed the signing of the construction contract. Hosni sees that the planned museum is of benefit to Egypt so as to preserve and protect its priceless items, as well as putting the country on the international museum level. For his part, Cairo Governor Abdel-Rehim Shehata described the museum as a great educational and cultural edifice in the Cairo Governorate. It would provide all the facilities needed to bring such a museum into the limelight. The Cairo Governorate donated the 32 feddans on which the museum is being built to the Ministry of Culture, as well as removing all encroachments on the site. "I am really very happy to witness this occasion because the Cairo Governorate not only hosts the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square and the monuments of Fatimid Cairo, but within three years the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation will be added to the governorate's monumental scenery," Shehata said. Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary-General Zahi Hawass, who signed the contract with the directors of Hassan Allam Contractors, the company which will execute the construction, said the outdoor exhibition would include an ancient dyeing factory discovered by the SCA on the site itself during routine pre-building inspection to check if any antiquities were hidden under the ground. According to Ayman Abdel-Moneim, the archaeologist in charge of the work, construction is expected to take place over three years, funded with the help of UNESCO and with further financing to the tune of LE350 million provided by the Nubian Monuments Salvage Fund. He pointed out that the museum building would actually occupy 19 feddans, the landscape and outdoor exhibits taking up six feddans and the remainder used for the lake and protection area. The original plan for a museum of civilisation allowed for construction in the parking area of the Cairo Opera House, but since this proved too small the idea remained dormant until 1990 when the minister of culture was so impressed with the panorama at the edge of Lake Ain Al-Sira that he suggested to archaeologists and experts from UNESCO that it might make a suitable site.
