CAIRO: A number of feasibility studies are underway to examine the possibility of renovating and expanding the Egyptian Museum in Turin, said a top Egyptian archaeologist. Dr Gaballah Ali Gaballah, former head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and member of the scientific committee tasked with looking into the archaeological aspects of the museum s relaunch, will leave to Italy late this month on one of a series of trips to take part in the feasibility studies. The Museo Egizio, The Egyptian Museum in Turin, is home to what is regarded as the second largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world, the first being the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This museum houses 33,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts including papyri, statues and tombs, said Gaballah. He added: One of the rarest pieces is the Royal Papyrus that features the names of all Egyptian royals from the pre-dynastic period up to the 17th dynasty. The dates of their reigns have been accurately marked with details that include day, month and year. Interestingly the list is perhaps the only one that mentions the non-Egyptian Heksos rulers that were usually dropped from the official records of ancient Egyptians. Besides the papyrus there is one magnificent statue of king Ramses II as well as the murals of several tombs, added Gaballah. A few years ago the museum, which was government-owned, was sold to a private foundation that will renovate it at the cost of 54 million euros (LE 400 million) with funding from Saint Paolo Bank. When it state-owned property, the museum lost its public appeal because of its poor facilities. Gaballah said that the renovation plans will be based on engineering as well as archaeological and managerial studies. There are ongoing negotiations to annex neighboring buildings to the museum to expand the premises. The expansion will provide more room to exhibit pieces that are now collecting dust in storage rooms due space constraints. Of the 33,000 artifacts at the museum only 6,000 are on display. The role of the archaeological committee made up of members from Italy, Germany, Egypt and France is to sort these pieces and discuss the best ways to exhibit them. The new renovations will include large halls equipped with technologically advanced facilities available in all modern museums, said Gaballah. Gaballah explains that the reason why there are such large numbers of artifacts in Italy is because back at the time of Mohammed Ali the Great in the late 1800s, the antiquities trade was legal. That was also the time when the bulk of the discoveries were made. But he pointed out that antiquities trade is only illegal in Egypt and some other countries, while in Europe it was not outlawed provided the trader revealed the source of the artifacts. "Today this trade is the lifeline of all private museums worldwide, he said. The Egyptian Museum of Turin was established in 1824. In the early 19th century, Carlo Felice, influenced by the interest in Egyptian culture which had been spreading all over Europe following Napoleon s campaigns in Egypt, acquired a substantial number of the finds collected by the Piedmontese Bernardino Drovetti, French consul general in Egypt. Between 1903 and 1920 the Italian Archaeological Mission launched a number of excavation campaigns along the Nile, thus acquiring additional material. New pieces were also added to the museum between 1930 and 1969.
