The newly-constructed Suez National Museum will be one of the canal city's major tourist attractions following its official inauguration this week, writes Nevine El-Aref The city of Suez has held a unique position since the early pharaonic era. Its port was an important centre for trade throughout the pharaonic period, and it continued to grow in importance right up to the present time. After the Suez Canal was opened in 1867, the city entered a new chapter in its history and became the most important international navigation link between the East and the West. The major impact that this had on the development of Egypt will be a feature of the new museum, as will the country's own trade relations with its neighbours to the east and north of the Mediterranean Sea, and Suez's role in pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Mecca and Medina. To highlight this role, the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) has constructed the Suez National Museum, which is being inaugurated this week by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf. The two-storey museum edifice standing on the bank of the Suez Canal has a distinguished modern architectural style. Following three years of construction work on a budget of LE42 million provided by the MSAA, the honey-coloured building stretches over a 5,950-square-metre site. Its displays include the story of the city of Suez from prehistoric to modern times with a display of 1,500 artefacts. It also highlights the struggle of the city residents to liberate Sinai from Israeli occupation from 1956 until the victory in October 1973. The museum collection has been carefully selected from museums and archaeological storehouses all over Egypt, but the majority of the exhibits derive from excavations at various archaeological sites in the Suez area. "The museum's construction is part of the MSAA's plan to establish national museums as cultural and historical centres in major towns and cities throughout Egypt," said Zahi Hawass, minister of state for antiquities. He added that the new museum would compensate the city residents for the loss of their old one, which deteriorated after its artefacts were transferred to the storage facility at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo during the 1967 war. Attia Radwan, head of the museums sector at the MSA, said the museum would have various types of objects on display, including artefacts from archaeological sites in Suez as well as illustrations and maps relating to the history of the Suez Canal from the time of its ancient forerunner, the Senusert Canal built during the reign of Pharaoh Senusert III (1878-1840 BC) in the 12th Dynasty (Middle Kingdom) to link the Red Sea and the Mediterranean via the River Nile. A colossal statue of the pharaoh will also be on show. Major-General Mohamed El-Sheikha, head of the projects sector at the MSA, describes the Suez Museum as one of the most elegant archaeological museums in Egypt. The museum is a two-storey building separated by a display in an open hall of a set of columns from the Graeco- Roman period (332 BC-364 AD). The first floor, which covers an area of 2,500 square metres, contains a VIP lounge, an auditorium that can accommodate 100 people, a cafeteria, an information desk and the main display gallery. This floor also holds the administration offices, control room, warehouse, and restoration laboratory. The second floor houses six display galleries dedicated to the Senusert Canal, trading, mining, the Mahmal Hall (featuring the delegation that travelled annually from Egypt to Mecca to offer a new cover for the Kaaba) and the Suez Canal. Mahmoud Mabrouk, the state minister's advisor for museums, who was responsible for the Suez Museum's scenario, said that the displays dedicated to the Senusert Canal featured a collection of artefacts and statues of ancient Egyptian pharaohs who contributed to the establishment and protection of the Canal, and several texts from the reign of Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC) showing the return of her fleet from the land of Punt. A head of Hatshepsut is exhibited, as well as a set of blocks inscribed with images of the god, Hapi, a symbol of the Nile. These blocks, he explained, were discovered in the area of Awlad Moussa beside the Gulf of Suez. "These blocks are evidence of Nile contact with a distant region at the time," Mabrouk commented. A collection of boats, texts about boats, statues of sailors, local and foreign pottery, and a relief of Pharaoh Merneptah (1213- 1203 BC) defending the Egyptian coast against the Sea People are also on display. Sheikha believes that the most important hall is that of the Mahmal, which tells the history of Suez as the most important stop for pilgrims to the Holy Land as well as for the Mahmal, the procession that carried the Kaaba cover from where it was made in Cairo all the way to Mecca. Three examples of the Kaaba cover are displayed, including the curtain of the Door of Forgiveness. The mining display shows all the industrial achievements that facilitated mining in Egypt from the pre-dynastic to the Islamic periods. These include the mining of gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, and precious stones such as turquoise, emeralds and garnets. Salah Sayed, the director-general of the Suez National Museum, says the visitors' route will end at the Suez Canal gallery where documents and paintings of Khedive Said, who issued the decree to dig the canal, and of Khedive Ismail, who inaugurated it once it was completed, can be seen. A medallion with the face of Ferdinand de Lesseps is on one side and the royal vehicle used during the canal's inauguration on the other, as well as a number of gold and bronze medallions issued for the occasion, and a set of decorations and awards that were distributed at the opening.
