Akila Fouad Cherine attends a birthday party on a boat which sails back through time One bright morning this summer I was invited to a birthday party. The party was on board a large river launch, the Nefetari (see box), and the birthday was that of none other than that most individual and original of tourist entrepreneurs, Dr Hassan Ragab. The party was arranged by his son Dr Abdel- Salam Ragab, a medical doctor, who invited several of his and his father's colleagues, friends and family, among whom I am happy to be included. It was a privilege to be taken on such a personal tour of Dr Ragab's Pharaonic Village. The village, founded as a labour of love on the small Jacob's Island on the Nile at Giza in 1985, has become a major tourist attraction and a required visit for families -- anyone who wants to explain life in Ancient Egypt to children can find no better way of doing so than by bringing them here. The tour began in the boat house, which contains a collection of reproductions of objects from Ancient Egypt. You won't find many original examples of the genuine article in the Pharaonic Village, but what you will find is as-close-to-the--mark copies as can be made, convincing enough to give an idea of ancient life and replaceable enough to be used. Dr Ragab's philosophy is to show how people lived, how they passed their time and how they used their tools. With its assembled guests the launch moved off, gliding past the lovely scenery on the Nile bank and the beds of tall papyrus, making silver ripples on the surface of the water below. We were served hot coffee and melt-in-the- mouth pastries. There was no birthday cake and no candles -- doubtless in deference to Dr Ragab's dislike of personal pomp and ceremony. I thought to myself that if candles were there they should burn in homage to this man and the long and laborious years he has spent on his project and for the pleasure he has brought to so many. In true birthday tradition, however, there were speeches, in which it emerged that Dr Ragab not only knows more than most about Egypt's past, but has not neglected its present -- as an engineer he has no fewer than 42 inventions to his credit. He also had a distinguished diplomatic career -- after World War II he was appointed military attaché to the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, and later became the first Egyptian ambassador to China, where he learned Mandarin. He wound up his diplomatic career with ambassadorial posts to Italy and Yugoslavia. In an entertaining speech the former deputy to the president of Egypt, Hussein El-Shafei, revealed an incident which took place during their days together in the army under British occupation. It was in World War II, and Dr Ragab was then a captain in the Corps of Engineers in the Egyptian army. During an Egyptian military manoeuvre a piece of equipment fell in a 30-metre hole, and the British were asked to help pull it out. Back came the answer: it could be done, but it would have to be dismantled in situ, brought up piece by piece and reassembled, which would all cost a lot of time and money. El-Shafei, the commander, asked Capt Ragab for his opinion. Almost at once he replied that he could do it in two hours, and at little cost. It so happened that he had invented a procedure whereby the power of traction was multiplied to a degree that enabled a heavy load to be lifted with little effort. The equipment was duly lifted. "If you want anything invented, just keep company with Dr Ragab," El-Shafei said. By this time we had reached Jacob's Island, where we disembarked and walked through the lovely gardens. We had stepped into Ancient Egypt. You can stroll through the house of a farmer, see how he lights his fire, bakes his bread and stores his crops, and touch the materials of which his house is made. You can watch him tilling and planting his fields and tending his animals. You can compare his life with that of a noble family: their finely-made furniture, the young woman applying her make-up. She wears a ravishing pleated dress and a traditional wig on which is placed a perfumed cone. Altogether 150 actors take the stage to reconstruct life as it once was here along the Nile. The first thing to visit, though, is the temple, approached along an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes. Here you are led by a priest to a library where papyrus scrolls are stacked in pigeon-holes. Several rooms follow, one of which contains the water clock, or clepsydrae, and another a chapel for the adoration of the ram-headed god Khnum. The exhibits in the next room explain the process of mummification -- this time using models -- and the ceremonies to accompany it. Outside is the Sacred Lake, where the Pharaoh and the High Priests bathed before religious ceremonies. Dr Ragab has reproduced the famous funerary treasure and regalia of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, and moving on through time there are also sections on the Coptic, Islamic and modern periods. There are restaurants for the worn-out, while those with extra energy can spend it in the gift shop or the Papyrus Museum where Dr Ragab, who pioneered the reintroduction of the "paper" plant, first made his name among tourists and visitors when he opened it as the Papyrus Institute in 1968. We left through an open area, empty except for a veiled figure surrounded by ranks of flowers which filled the air with their perfume. Abdel-Salam asked his father to remove the veil, and there, on a plinth, was a large bronze bust of the man who has brought the daily activities of the Ancient Egyptians back to life. The bust is the work of artist Mahmoud Mabrouk. Its features are remarkably true to life -- those of a great man who has dedicated his life to invention and reinvention. Reinventing papyrus THE PAPYRUS plant was extinct for a thousand years in the country which made it famous until, in the 1960s, Dr Hassan Ragab reintroduced it by planting a bed of papyrus roots acquired from Sudan and Ethiopia at Jacob's Island in Giza. From this small beginning Dr Ragab went on to reinvent the art of papyrus-paper making. He opened his Papyrus Institute in 1968 to show the public how it was done. Today the Papyrus Institute, also known as the Papyrus Museum, shares a Nile houseboat with Gold's Gym at 121 Al-Nil Street, Giza, between the Cairo Sheraton and University Bridge. Papyrus Museum: Tel:336-7212, 348-9035/8676/8177. Open 9am to 9pm. Recreating the past FOLLOWING the success of his papyrus venture, Dr Ragab conceived the idea of creating a living museum of Egypt's ancient history. In 1974 he began converting Jacob's Island into a detailed replica of an Ancient Egyptian community. First he planted 5,000 trees to block out the surrounding view of modern Cairo. The first trees were weeping willows, sycamores and date palms, trees easily identified in tomb paintings as a typical part of the scenery. Many other plants, flowers, animals and birds depicted in wall paintings could no longer be found in Egypt, and some had become extinct. Again Dr Ragab went abroad, returning with seeds, cuttings, and roots of plants that flourished in Egypt thousands of years ago. He also brought back the Meidum Goose, often depicted in ancient Egyptian art but long thought extinct. Little by little a collection of plants and animals not seen in Egypt for centuries was assembled on the island. The next step was to bring in the "inhabitants" to recapture the ancient daily activities. Once work, play, industries and festivals had been brought to life, the Pharaonic Village opened in 1985. Visitors sail on barges though a network of canals to view scenes of agricultural and rural life. In the village painters, sculptors, scribes and potters create elaborate pieces using ancient styles and techniques, carefully researched to ensure a high level of realism. All the paintings, sculptures, and statues on the tour were created in the village. Metalworking, woodworking and masonry techniques using replica tools can be viewed in an exhibition and workshop area. The Ancient Egyptians enjoyed many of the pastimes that we do today -- sports, games and performances -- and many of these activities have also been recreated. The village also contains sections on Graeco-Roman, Coptic, Islamic and modern history. Guests can also book an hour-long Nile tour on the Nefertari yacht. Yacht tours leave the Pharaonic Village several times a day and in the evening, and meals and snacks can be purchased on board. For more information and reservations call 571-8676/7. The village contains a number of quick service cafeterias. The Pharaonic Village: 3 Al-Bahr Al-A'zam St, Giza. Tel: 571- 8675/6/7. Admission fees vary according to programme. Open: 9am-9pm in summer, 9am-6pm in winter.
