New century, new ventures

After a three-year hiatus, the "Piece of the Month" is being reintroduced as one of the new plans for the Egyptian Museum. Nevine El-Aref reports on the museum's upcoming agenda
The energetic and ambitious new director-general of the Egyptian Museum, Mamdouh El-Damati, is planning to resuscitate many former museum projects which have been left on ice for the last three years. He also hopes to implement innovations of his own.
One of the first decisions taken by the new director-general after he assumed office was reviving a project to highlight a different masterpiece each month. The chosen piece is placed in a place of honour in the foyer, along with full details.
El-Damati also plans to reach out to the interested public. "To develop the skills and knowledge of Egyptian archaeologists, the museum is organising a series of Sunday lectures focusing on a different aspect of ancient society each week. We shall also focus on other topics," he says.
"Within the next two months, the museum should be on the Internet. This facility will enable students and scholars from all over the world to carry out research without necessarily making their way to Egypt or visiting the museum."
El-Damati says the Internet catalogue will provide a photo album of every object in the museum, with full details of size, material, historical details, the site at which each piece was found and any other relevant information. "Each photo will be numbered, and it will be possible for a viewer to purchase the right to reproduce it for a small fee through the Internet. Since each object is photographed from all angles, the navigator can decide which angle is the most suitable for his or her purposes -- as a work of art, for example, or in order to read the texts. If more information is required this will be provided on request for an additional fee."
In the early 1950s, before the revolution, a general catalogue on the Egyptian Museum gave regular details of new additions. This long-neglected project will now be reactivated. "It will not be in the form of a single catalogue, but several, each devoted to a single subject. For example ushwepti figures, sarcophagi, mummies, offering tables, reliefs, etc.," El-Damati says.
He says that in view of the immense popularity of the Mausoleum of the Mummies, another mummy hall is being prepared to display those mummies, some of them royal, which are still in storage. "The hall exhibiting animal mummies will be rearranged," he adds.
A hall on the upper level of the museum devoted to the exhibition of sarcophagi, closed for the last 30 years, will be reopened. El-Damati says; "The hall will be cleaned and repainted, the tiling restored, and all the sarcophagi cleaned and suitably prepared for exhibition."
These are ambitious plans, but not too ambitious for a man who has a vision of turning the Egyptian Museum into a meeting place for scholars -- while at the same time catering to the interests of children and providing facilities for the disabled. "We intend to produce a bulletin outlining museum news and giving details of the planned lecture series," the new director says. "For children, we want to produce a monthly brochure describing specific pieces which will be of special interest. As for the disabled, for the first time in the history of the museum [which was founded by Mariette nearly a century ago], plans are being made to provide some 50 to 70 replicas of masterpieces for hands-on "viewing" by the blind. "The chosen pieces will cover highlights of ancient Egyptian history. A Braille catalogue is coming out very soon," El-Damati says.
The first object chosen to become the post- revival "Piece of the Month," was a limestone dyad, or pair statue, showing Mery-Re, the overseer of god Aten, with his wife Ey-Yuya seated beside him in an embrace. The statue, in colour and with its hieroglyphic text intact, was found seven months ago by a Dutch-British team excavating in the south-western chapel of the priest's tomb in Saqqara.
The texts on the back of the statues reveal the facts. Mery-Re was, among his many titles, scribe of the temple of the Aten at Akhet-Aten (Tel Al-Amarna) and the text inscribed on his kilt reveals that he was one of the Pharaoh's most honoured officials. His double-row gold necklace was a reward presented only to the Pharaoh's favourites. His wife, Ey-Yuya, also had several titles, among them 'The Favoured One' and 'His Beloved Wife.' The right side of her hair is swept behind her back, while her robe reaches to her ankles.
"This masterpiece will remain on display in the foyer when we bring out another from the middle of October," El-Damati says. Those lined up for future exhibition are a head of Amun-Zeus, a Graeco-Roman masterpiece in alabaster retrieved two years ago from Jordan along with a collection of ushwepti figures and six papyrus texts; and the copper statue of the fifth-dynasty Pharaoh Pepi I, now restored.
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