INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF

CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MUSEES e-News | 2014 | 02

Editorial — Tine Bagh

IPEG had a very successful Annual especially concerning the present state after the conference to Roskilde; a C Meeting August 26-29 2014 in and future of the Egyptian late afternoon canal tour took place Copenhagen in the Royal Academy in , the Grand , while the Board of CIPEG met. Her of Sciences. It was organised in and the National Museum of Egyptian Excellency Mme. Salwa Moufid, the collaboration with the Ny Carlsberg Civilisation. On the first day, the Egyptian Ambassador to Denmark, Glyptotek and the opening reception keynote speech about the Carlsberg kindly invited us for a grand reception took place in its beautiful winter Papyrus Collection was delivered by at her residence. It was agreed that the garden. 60 members gathered and Professor Kim Ryholt from Copenhagen Annual Meeting in 2015 will take place interesting papers were presented, University. Copenhagen showed its in Munich. n many on the conference theme of best side with sunny weather. An > cipeg.icom.museum archaeological material as part of evening visit to Tivoli was arranged > Facebook collections. We had fruitful discussions, for the participants, as was a day trip

Group photo in front of the Glyptotek

CIPEG Resolutions 2014 Adopted by the General Assembly of CIPEG Copenhagen, 28 August 2014

1. CIPEG supports the training for 2. Noting the recent case in 3. CIPEG welcomes the reestablishment curatorial staff of Egyptian and Northampton, UK, CIPEG expresses its of ICOM . CIPEG supports the Sudanese collections according to concern about the sale, for financial work of ICOM Egypt in protecting ICOM standards. Owing to the urgent gain, of objects from institutions and promoting Egyptian heritage, need in Egypt and Sudan, CIPEG operating for public benefit. In particularly in museums, in accordance expresses its particular support for accordance with ICOM standards, with ICOM standards. n training in those regions. CIPEG condemns such sales. INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS e-News | 2014 | 02 CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MUSEES

The M.i.N. Project Bringing out “forgotten” antiquities from the Eastern Nile Delta Raising awareness of Egypt’s endangered cultural heritage. — Helmut Brandl – Faye Kalloniatis

he archaeology of the Nile Delta hand-written) reports of bygone SCA T has recently enjoyed increased excavations has been invaluable. attention following calls from the The project publishes scientific articles Supreme Council of Antiquities devoted to specific objects and find stressing the threat posed to Delta sites groups as well as lavishly illustrated by climate conditions and urbanism. bilingual (English and ) catalogues Many objects which had been which also contain illustrated essays excavated earlier in important Delta on the archaeology of every site. The cities and their necropoleis still await M.i.N. team, of Egyptian and German re-discovery. M.i.N catalogue (Cairo/Berlin, 2014). Egyptologists, archaeologists, artists, M.i.N. (“Museen im Nildelta”) is a project and photographers, has concentrated Most recently M.i.N. has embarked to research and publish objects kept on three museums: on a project to study and publish the in the various lesser-known museums antiquities in the Ismailia Museum. The Museum of the University of and storerooms spread across the Nile Founded in 1930 as one of the best Zagazig was founded in 1992. It Delta. The data which such research archaeological museums in all of Egypt, displays artefacts from the sites of Kufur can provide would enhance our it still lacks a published catalogue. The Nigm and Bubastis, which have been knowledge and understanding of the building, designed in Egyptianizing excavated by the University of Zagazig history of the Nile Delta. style, stands within a well-kept garden over several decades. This is reflected which exhibits larger antiquities. “The The project’s main aim has been not in the publication “Egyptian Antiquities Ismailia Museum”, is planned to be the only to provide good photography from Kufur Nigm and Bubastis”, the first third catalogue of the M.i.N. series. n and descriptions of the objects M.i.N catalogue (Cairo/Berlin, 2010). documented, but also to gather and > www.project-min.de/index_en.html The National Museum of Sharkeya disseminate this information. This has (currently closed for refurbishment) proved a challenging task considering houses Middle Kingdom sculptures the many years which have passed since and grave goods from Bubastis, Tanis, the discovery of many of the objects, and many other East Delta sites. The many of which are unpublished. The publication “Egyptian Antiquities from generous assistance of members of the Eastern Nile Delta”, is the second the SCA who helped find (usually INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS e-News | 2014 | 02 CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MUSEES

Changes afoot in The Egypt Exploration Society archive — María Rodríguez Rubín

he Egypt Exploration Society, London headquarters was refurbished T founded over a century ago by to provide a second dedicated archive Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart space. The Society had 22 years ago Poole, was established with the aim of purchased the house of the renowned investigating and excavating Egypt’s Egyptologist Ricardo A. Caminos, ancient heritage. After 133 years of who had settled directly next door to fieldwork, it is not surprising that the the Society’s offices, and which now Society’s Lucy Gura Archive is today one houses the Society’s . What was of the foremost Egyptological archives once his bedroom and bathroom has in the world, with over 5,000 groups of been rebuilt into a new storage and material under its care. archival research space, incorporating environmental monitor systems. New In April this year, a major redevelopment acquisitions, regularly-used collections in the archive targeted three key The advances this year mean that in and material requiring special care aims: to implement a new numbering coming years the Egypt Exploration occupy the shelves of the new space. A system; to refurbish archive storage Society’s Lucy Gura Archive will fully-equipped research station is now space; and to establish a new online become one of the best preserved and also provided, which helps facilitate system cataloguing the records. well known Egyptological archives in the final aim of the project – online the world. n The new numbering system was based engagement. on a previous system initiated by the > www.ees.ac.uk By the end of this year, data from the late Professor Margaret Drower, which current archive database will begin to allowed the division of the archive into be entered into a new online catalogue, five hierarchical levels, reflecting the thus making the information available complexity of the archive, as well as to world-wide search. This constitutes being flexible enough to accommodate an important aspect of ongoing new acquisitions. projects at the Society, such as the As with all growing archives, space cataloguing and digitization of early can be a problem. Between May and correspondence and the digitization of June 2014, a room in the Society’s original archaeological watercolours.

Lucy Gura Archive Research Facility. New archive storage in The Egypt Exploration Society. Copyright The Egypt Exploration Society Copyright The Egypt Exploration Society INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS e-News | 2014 | 02 CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MUSEES

Sésostris III, pharaon de légende — Guillemette Andreu-Lanoë (Paris) and Fleur Morfoisse (Lille), curators

his exhibition opened at the Palais Besides cataloguing the objects, it was literature; and the religious and funerary T des Beaux-Arts de Lille on 10th important for us to make our public practices of the time. Research on these October 2014, and runs until 25th aware of recent discoveries at Dahshur topics has dramatically progressed in January 2015. The Lille curatorial team and Abydos, two sites where remains the last years, and these contributions has organized it in collaboration with of a pyramid and a rock-cut tomb of present the latest findings to a wide the Musée du Louvre, Paris. the king have been found. Other essays public. Finally, art historical essays return discuss the historical framework; the to the debates about the iconography of This show is the first devoted to King royal family; Senusret’s architectural and Senusret III and the society of his time. n Senusret III (c. 1872-1854 B.C.). The urban political programs; his foreign visitor will discover the powerful and > http://pharaonsesostris.pba-lille.fr policy; the migrations of population innovative reign of this monarch, which between Egypt, Levant, and Sinai; the left its mark on the collective memory private necropoleis of the elite; the of Egypt. We gratefully acknowledge how useful Pierre Tallet’s book Sésostris III (Pygmalion, 2005) has been in preparing the exhibition.

The exhibition reveals the main cultural features and deep changes of Senusret’s reign. This visionary sovereign, represented in a very expressive manner, imposed his ambitions on Egypt and brilliantly inspired his successors. Three hundred objects, from colossal statues to miniature objects, bring 19th century B.C. Egypt to life and emphasize the greatness of his rule. These objects come from different collections throughout the world. Chief among them are the masterpieces from Medamoud in the Louvre, and objects of daily life found at the Nubian fortress of Mirgissa, now in the collection of the University of Lille III. Other loans from prestigious museums, from New York to Beirut, join them. A multimedia reconstruction of the tomb of the governor Djehutyhotep at Deir el-Bersha has been created thanks to the collaboration of Prof. Harco Willems (University of Louvain), who is excavating this site.

The catalogue is not just a book offering a description of the exhibits, but a work of reference for the period to which some of the finest specialists on the subject have contributed. INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS e-News | 2014 | 02 CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MUSEES

Museum news in Cairo – a round up

egine Schulz reported on the support the GEM has received criticism in accordance with the museum’s R damage to the Islamic Museum in from hotel associations, and seems not original decorative scheme. Another the last newsletter; the news in Cairo, as yet to have been implemented. welcome initiative is the creation of a of November 2014, is summarized here. museum support group, the Patrons Khaled el-Enany, Professor at Helwan of the Egyptian Museum Cairo, in Mamdouh Eldamaty replaced University, was appointed general whose foundation Yasmin el-Shazly, Mohamed Ibrahim as Minister of director of the National Museum the Museum’s head of documentation, State for Antiquities in June 2014, of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC), a has played a role. Current priorities are and Ahmed Sharaf is still head of the UNESCO-supported project at Fustat in to improve signage in the museum, Museums Sector. Low visitor numbers southern Cairo. He recently announced produce thematic tour pamphlets, and financial and political uncertainty an inauguration of the first phase of offer curatorial training, raise funds, and still make it difficult to establish new the complex – the construction of the find sponsors. While building works in projects or to implement reforms; site. The second phase – construction the basement mean that material there the fact that so many projects are still of storage space and conservation is unavailable to researchers until 2015, underway is a tribute to the ministry’s laboratories – is underway. The third objects on display and in the ground resourcefulness. phase – design and layout of exhibits - floor storerooms remain accessible awaits completion; a ‘soft opening’ of 4 The (GEM) upon application to the director, of the 9 galleries has been estimated at has been a flagship museum project for Mahmoud el-Helwagy. $65 million. nearly 20 years, and will house 50,000 Elsewhere in Cairo, most museums are artefacts in approximately three times Decisions remain to be finalised open – the , Gayer- the space of the Egyptian Museum. over which pieces from the Egyptian Anderson Museum (some works still Tarek Tawfik, formerly of Cairo University, Museum Cairo will be transferred to the removed for safekeeping), Modern Art was appointed Director in summer GEM and NMEC, and when. This has not Museum, Mahmoud Mokhtar Museum, 2014. A loan of $300 million from the stopped the Egyptian Museum from and Textile Museum. The Museum of Japanese International Cooperation pursuing its own projects to renovate Islamic Ceramics has been shut since Agency was secured in 2009, as Japan’s the 112 year old building. A grant from early 2011, but the Gezira Arts Center in contribution to the $550 million cost the German government, administered the basement of the building is open. of the museum. The rest of the funds through the Egyptian NGO The Khalil Museum has not reopened were planned to come from touring Evironmental Quality International, aims since the theft of a Van Gogh in 2010. n exhibition fees and sponsorship. The to repaint galleries, repair windows, official projected cost of the museum renovate cases, and replant the is now $1 billion, and a ‘soft opening’ museum’s garden with plants common of some of the displays is proposed for to pharaonic Egypt. The project has 2017. In March 2014 it was announced started with the Tutankhamun displays that a fund-raising campaign had on the first floor of the museum. The secured $7 million. A suggested hotel skylights in the gallery have been occupancy tax of $1 / room / night to repaired and walls and floors restored INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MUSEUMS e-News | 2014 | 02 CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DES MUSEES

A New Collection Catalogue from Egypt – and more than that … — Christian E. Loeben

imply the fact that part of the This comparative material has earlier being the ‘person on the spot’ for the S holdings of a museum in Egypt been studied by the Ancient Egyptian essential task of maintaining ties and has recently been made accessible Footwear Project (AEFP) and has been staying close to local colleagues and through a printed publication added to the present catalogue as the material under study. can already be appreciated with welcome comparison. It should also be mentioned with the enthusiasm. In the case of the book It is regrettable that the 45 pieces of the greatest admiration that the book under review, the published group of Coptic Museum are only distinguished represents one of the estimable results objects is the footwear in the collection from the comparative material in of the Netherlands ‘Researching of the Coptic Museum in Cairo. Being the text part of the catalogue (pp. Museum Collections: Coptic Museum’ a well-defined group of objects, 20-99), by printing the latter in Fellowship Programme (a collaboration this new catalogue can indeed be italics. Distinguishing between the of the Netherlands-Flemish Institute considered a welcome continuation of two different sources of material is in Cairo, American University of Cairo, the ‘Catalogue général du musée copte impossible when looking at the ‘figures’ , Coptic Museum du Caire’ modelled after its well-known (Appendix I ; pp. 102–310) which and the Ministry of State for Antiquities), equivalent for the Egyptian and (lesser illustrate each item lavishly in full colour initiated in 2013 to train local museum known among Egyptologists) Islamic photos, object and technical drawings, curators. One can only congratulate museums in Cairo. Initiated only in as well as by (AEFP?) recording cards of this programme and hope that more 1991 with a volume on the museum’s the objects dating from between 1978 beautiful catalogues of Egyptian holdings of Coptic icons by Paul van and 1995, which themselves sometimes museum collection will follow… n Moorsel (Cairo/Leiden), the series has include detailed pencil drawings. been continued in 2001 with ‘objets Unfortunately, sadly missing from en métal’ by Dominique Bénazeth the three concordances (Appendix II; (Cairo, MIFAO 119). For this reason it is André J. Veldmeijer & Salima Ikram: pp.312–332) is one that classifies the quite regrettable that the new volume Catalogue of the Footwear in the Coptic objects by the museums which hold is not actually part of this – now-well Museum (Cairo). Leiden: Sidestone Press, them today – which in turn prevents established – Catalogue général series 2014 (ISBN 978-90-8890-253-6). 332 the present volume from being easily of the Coptic Museum, the world’s pages, with illustrations mostly in colour checked for museums‘ holdings. largest collection of Coptic art. on pp. 102-310. € 49,95 However, these points are just minor This regret can be explained by the issues considering what a treasure fact that what is called a ‘Catalogue’ of a publication has now been given is far more than just the publication to the Coptic museum in Cairo of the (quite few) relevant 45 pieces and the community of interested from the Coptic museum. The majority specialists and laymen worldwide. of the entries, numbering 97, are of Over 332 pages, 142 objects are now ‘comparative material’ from sources fully published in detailed texts and other than the Coptic Museum in beautiful plates with marvellous colour Cairo. These are objects either in the photos and excellently clear technical collections of seven other museums drawings. With this publication, our (22 pieces from, inter alia, the British Dutch colleague André Veldmeijer has Museum, the Roemer- und Pelizaeus- yet again demonstrated his status as Museum Hildesheim: the museums a worldwide expert in the field, as ‘Mr. are listed on p. 12) or finds which have Leather of ’ or ‘Mr. Egyptian been recorded by the excavators of the Shoes’ – to the benefit of all. For the EES at Qasr Ibrim in Lower Nubia (75 splendid product thanks are also due pieces which have not been integrated to the co-author Salima Ikram, whose into the Coptic museum in Cairo). role certainly reaches far beyond just www.bigben.be

Editor: ICOM | CIPEG Editorial board: Tine Bagh, Aidan Dodson, Claire Derriks, Tom Hardwick, Gabriele Pieke | Contribution for future editions should be send to: Gabriele Pieke