CAIRO - He enters a big room, where about a dozen people, all wearing white lab coats, are busy with their work. He walks up to a lady who is peering through a microscope at a coin. In her hand, she's holding something like a needle. "What are you doing?" he asks. She removes the mask she's wearing. "I'm cleaning the rust from this coin," the young Egyptian archaeologist replies. "How old is it?" he asks. "It's from the Roman era." The Ambassador takes off his glasses and examines the coin. "Wonderful!" Last week, Japanese Ambassador Norihiro Okuda toured the Conversation Centre, established for the purpose of conserving Egyptian artifacts, including those destined for the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), as well as to develop the capacities of the conservators. He roamed the laboratories and stores to see what has been done so far, speaking with the Japanese expert, as well as the Egyptian staff. The story of the GEM began when it was decided to construct a new museum, because the Egyptian Museum in Al Tahrir Square is too small. It contains statues, stone sarcophaguses, Pharaonic mummies and much more, but many large artifacts are in storage, because there isn't room to display them. Also, given the site limitations in Al Tahrir, it would be very difficult to expand the museum. In 2002, former president Mubarak laid the foundation stone for the GEM, located 2km west of the Giza Pyramids, near a motorway interchange. The building's north and south walls line up directly with the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Menkaure. The GEM will allow Egypt to become a major worldwide hub for Pharaonic history and the most sought-after place for Egyptologists. In 2007, $550 million had been secured for building the GEM, including a $392 million soft loan from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA). The Egyptian Government contributed around $150 million, while the remaining would be funded through donations and international organisations. The GEM is being built on 486,000 square metres of land. This space will not only include the exhibition galleries, but also an archaeological study storage and educational centre; a library, children's museum, children's school and outdoor children's recreational gardens, a museum for people with special needs and an educational centre containing a 3-D cinema, a theatre, arts and crafts workshops for adults and children; in addition to retail shops, and food and beverage and recreational areas. In co-operation with the Executive Authority of the GEM, the Ministry of Culture, JICA is providing technical assistance to the GEM's Conservation Centre, which opened in 2010 and is attached to the museum. "The GEM is going to collect 100,000 artifacts for the exhibition and research," said Mikio Nakamura, an expert and the chief adviser and co-ordinator for the Conservation Centre project. "Of the 100,000 artifacts, we have already checked more than 22,000, including King Tut's Golden Mask, allowing us to make an accurate database," he told The Egyptian Gazette. The museum will be ready in 2012, but the opening has been delayed till 2015. Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass said in a press conference held in the Conservation Centre earlier this month: "It's not politics, it's culture, so the project must take its time to be implemented well.” "We are facing difficulties because of the sudden change in the schedule. I hope that well-managed co-ordination, a good information-sharing system and a clear division of responsibility among the concerned organisations and agencies will improve things," Nakamura said. The database for the artifacts must also be finished before the GEM opens, because the selection of the artifacts for display and their transfer to the museum can only be done on the basis of accurate information about the place of storage and the size of the artifacts. The Egyptian side created a database for the artifacts, which will be transferred to the GEM. But there were mistakes and duplications in the entered data, due to a lack of rules governing the procedures for data entry. Therefore, JICA decided to create the Archaeological Database Department (ADD), in order to reconstruct the database. The ADD is visiting other museums and storehouses at archaeological sites, in order to identify the artifacts registered in the database, confirm the registration numbers and sizes, and also take photos of them, which is standard procedure. Atsushi Suzuki, an IT expert who is revising the database, has a lot to say about it. The JICA-GEMCC project is now employing almost 20 staff, engaged in revising the database. Suzuki is working with the manager, who is Egyptian and an Egyptologist, managing the staff and the database. “After discussions with the manager, I have developed a simple database. We had problems with duplication and inputting errors," he told this newspaper. "Even if we go to a site, it takes time to find the artifacts because of the wrong information. Sometimes an artifact is completely different from what we are led to believe. “It's like we're training every day. I believe that, in the near future, the Egyptian staff in ADD will be able to handle the work without JICA experts,” he added, smiling. As I ended my tour of the JICA-GEMCC project, Nakamura stopped me and said: “I've written a poem to express my feelings about working here. I feel really honoured and privileged to be working to preserve Egypt's wonderful treasures.” He gave me a copy of his poem and it went like this: ‘Receiving the light From the world far past On the plateau of Giza I devote my profound delight For preserving human heritage.'
