Dig Days: An Egyptian artist in Rome By Zahi Hawass Farouk Hosni left Paris to work at the Egyptian Academy in Rome. At that time Abdel-Hamid Radwan was the minister of culture; Radwan wanted Mohamed Ghoneim to be the head of the academy. However, the late Sufi Abu Taleb and late Atef Sidqi convinced Radwan that Hosni was the best candidate for the job. Hosni established great activities in Rome and brought the Egyptian cultural scene to the Italians. He became good friends with many Italian Egyptologists, such as Sergio Donadoni and Silvio Curto. Sidqi was appointed by President Hosni Mubarak to be Egypt's prime minister, and at the same time Ahmed Qadri became the head of Egypt's Antiquities Organisation. Qadri gave a voice to antiquities but most of his work was criticised, especially because of the Sphinx restoration project that he oversaw. The architect who was in charge of the reconstruction of the casing stones that the Pharaohs had put on the Sphinx's body replaced them with stones that completely changed the proportions of the Sphinx. Also the cement could be seen on the blocks, distracting from the beauty of this masterpiece. Another incident that drew significant criticism was a student who had never before worked in restoration was commissioned to paint the Citadel. Sidqi understood how valuable Hosni was. At that time, Hosni was not well known by the public, but he was known and respected as a talented artist within the cultural community. Several reporters visited Hosni in Rome, including Mustafa El-Naggar and Ahmed Abu Kaf. When they were interviewing Hosni, he confided that Sidqi wanted him to be Egypt's minister of culture but he did not want the job. Upon hearing this, Abu Kaf commented to El-Naggar that Hosni was dreaming and there was no way he could become minister of culture. Many people wanted to be the minister of culture, including famous writers and journalists. I finished my doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and returned to Egypt to become the director of the Giza Pyramids and Saqqara under Qadri. At that time Gamal Mokhtar, El-Mallakh, Qadri and I used to socialise. Mokhtar was the former head of the Antiquities Department before Qadri, and El-Mallakh was a great journalist and discoverer of the Solar Boat of Khufu on the south side of the Great Pyramid. El-Mallakh thought of the Solar Boat as his baby, and would not let anyone touch it. Qadri asked National Geographic to work on the second boat in cooperation with Farouk El-Baz, and he did not include El-Mallakh in the project. Hence, a feud broke out between Qadri and El-Mallakh. Mokhtar and I were caught in the middle of this fight and we could not do anything. I went with Mokhtar to Denver, Colorado, to attend the opening of the Ramses the Great Exhibition at the National History Museum, and while I was there two important things happened. First, I received a phone call from El-Mallakh's sister- in-law, Dorothea, who told me that he had passed away. Second, Hosni became the minister of culture. To be continued....
