Museology - Cultural Management”

ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA Interuniversity Postgraduate Programme “Museology - Cultural Management” School of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering Academic Years 2014-2016 Master Thesis Access to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities: Cultural policy, Challenges and Development Proposals Ayman Said Sayed Abdelmohsen Conservator Thessaloniki 2016 ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA Interuniversity Postgraduate Programme “Museology - Cultural Management” School of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering Academic Years 2014-2016 Master Thesis Access to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities: Cultural policy, Challenges and Development Proposals Ayman Said Sayed Abdelmohsen Conservator Thessaloniki 2016 Supervisor: Matoula Scaltsa, Professor of History of Art and Museology at the School of Architecture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th) and Director of the Interuniversity Postgraduate Programme (IPP) “Museology” of the A.U.Th and the University of Western Macedonia, Greece. This thesis is the intellectual property of authors and supervisors. The written consent is required for any use of the work by third parties. Authors and supervisors can publish their work on scientific grounds, as far as they provide the reporting of all agents. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Allah that I have been able to finish my dissertation. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Prof. Matoula Scaltsa for the continuous support of my thesis study and related research, for her patience, motivation and immense knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of coordinators of MA Museology- Cultural Management programme: Prof. Panos Tzonos, Prof. Kostas Kotsakis, Dr. Lia Yoka, Prof. Patroklos Georgiadis and Dr. Kostas Kasvikis for their valuable and outstanding lectures which were guiding me for the past year and helping me to develop my background in Museology, cultural studies, Museum Education and history. Many thanks to IKY Foundation for providing me by Master Scholarship to obtain this degree and Prof. Scaltsa for accepting me to pursue my postgraduate studies at Museology-Cultural Management programme, School of Architecture, Aristotle university of Thessaloniki. I would like to thank also the secretary of MA Museology-Cultural Management programme Mrs. Afroditi Bousoulenga for her cooperation and support during my postgraduate studies and my sincere thanks to my Greek friends for being beside me as my family here in Greece. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family: parents, brothers and friends for supporting me spiritually but my overwhelming thanks go to my lovely wife and my son who were always there cheering me up and stood by me through the good times and bad in writing this thesis and my life in general. Ayman Abdelmohsen Thessaloniki, 2016 I CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I ABSTRACT IV LIST OF FIGURES V CONTENTS II CHAPTERS: 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. Aims of the Study 1 2. THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM IN CAIRO 2 2.1. Historical background 2 2.2. Museum planning and architectural design 8 2.3. Collections 13 3. THE CULTURAL POLICY TOWRDS EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES IN 19th & 20th CENTURIES 16 3.1. Egyptian antiquities under the Colonialism Rule 16 3.2. Egyptian antiquities under the Military Rule 1953 – 2011 20 4. PRESENT CHALLENGES OF THE MUSEUM AND THE SURROUNDINGS – PRINCIPLES PROBLEMS 23 4.1. Existing area 23 4.1.1. The Modern Transformation - Urban Development around the Museum 24 I. The pre-first Transformation Point 1950 King Farouk 24 II. The first Transformation Point Nasser 1952 25 III. The second transformation Point Sadat 1970 26 4.1.2. The Museum at the Center of Egypt’s Revolution 29 4.2. Political trespassing 33 4.3. Present condition of the premises 34 4.3.1. As a building 34 4.3.2. Security 35 4.4. The collections: Exhibition areas and reserves 37 4.5. Interviews: 41 II 4.5.1. General Manager of Conservation Department, Egyptian Museum 42 4.5.2. General Manager of technical preparations Unit for Exhibitions and Storages, Egyptian Museum 47 5. DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS 54 5.1. Extension the Museum 54 5.2. Evacuation the Museum to the opening state 1902 57 5.3. Temporary and travelling exhibitions 58 5.4. Paintings of the museum 58 5.5. Environmental Control 58 5.5.1. Controlling RH and Temp. 59 5.5.2. Controlling Light 60 5.5.3. Controlling Air pollutants 61 5.5.4. Controlling biological activity and pets attack 61 6. CONCLUSION 62 BIBLIOGRAPHY 65 III ABSTRACT The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, with its burnt-orange, neo-classical façade, has stood out as one of the most famous landmarks of Cairo city since its construction in 1902. It is home to 300,000 of the nation’s most important artefacts, from a long and unique span of Egypt’s history. Egypt with its wealth of ancient artefacts, European powers to profit from Egypt’s cultural heritage. This dissertation examines the history, problems and development of the Egyptian Museum in contextual setting that includes the Egyptian antiquities under Colonialism and nationalism as well, their roles and temptations. The thesis highlights the significant deterioration over several decades, due to cultural policies in Egypt since 19th and 20th centuries especially, the recent government interventions from Military forces in the field of Museology without any rights or experience to interfere. Cairo’s heavy vehicular traffic and pollution problems and generally inharmonious surroundings around the museum have significantly contributed to its decline. Many of the objects on display are now in urgent need of conservation, a problem that is compounded by the alarming lack of environmental monitoring and security systems in addition the exhibition galleries have been crammed with thousands of artefacts to accommodate an ever-growing number of new discoveries. It investigates and analyses whether Egyptians Managers at the Egyptian Museum the challenges faced by Egyptian museum today in an independent Egypt. The last chapter suggests possible and practical proposals for the development of the Museum can be easily applied. IV LIST OF FIGURES Figure Label Page Show Boulak Museum Entrance, the Courtyard, and the Museum’s 1, 2&3 4 Collection. Memorandum cancellation of the school of Egyptology 29 December, 4 5 1885, Egypt. 5 Tahrir Square, with the Egyptian Museum, circa 1940s Cairo. 7 6, 7&8 Construction process of the Egyptian Museum from 1897 to 1902 10 Show the museum entrances and the façade includes the European 9: A, Egyptologists as contributors to the Egyptian Museum, the texts on the B, façade are written in the Latin language, two Ionic columns decorated with 12 C&D a head of the goddess Isis and two high-relief female figures representing Upper and Lower Egypt (the Nile Valley and the delta) Map Show Egyptian Museum in Cairo Map, the left photo is the Ground floor 13 1& 2 and the right is the first floor. 10, General view of the Great Hall and the Ground Floor exhibits including old 14 11&12 and middle kingdoms and Greco Roman period, Egyptian Museum in Cairo. 13 Some of the displayed objects at first Floor as King’s Tutankhamun 15 &14 collections and portraits of Fayum, Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Aerial photo shows the surrounding area around the Egyptian Museum in Map 3 23 Cairo. 15 Shows the Mogamma building and traffic Jam in Tahrir Square in front of 24 the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 16 Formal Gardens dominate the Egyptian Museum and the square, Nasser’s skyline, with the Arab League building on the left, the Nile Hilton in the 27 middle and the NDP-building on the right 1956. 17& Two photos showing the urban development of the surrounding areas 28 18 around the EM for 113 years. 19 Egyptians protesters making a human wall protecting the Egyptian 29 Museum. 20& Show the NDP-building during/after the fire and the Egyptian Museum side 21 by side on 25th Revolution as well show millions of Egyptian protesters in 30 Tahrir Square in front of the Museum 22& Zahi Hawass, together with the Director of the Museum, Tarek El Awady, 23 during checking damage sat the EM on January 31, 2011. 32 Head of a mummy, recovered in the garden in the morning of 29, January 2011. 24&25 Show the back gate of Egyptian Museum in Cairo from 2 sides and the polluted environment that surrounding the museum as bus station, 33-34 parking, 6th of October Bridge and vibrations because of crowded means of transportations. 26& Shows the inefficient security system at The Egyptian Museum in Cairo by 27 using normal small lockers. 36 Shows the careless of Tourism and Antiquities Policemen at the main gate of the EM having their breakfast over the X-ray machine V Figure Label Page Museum member and cleaning service staff using commercial product for 28 39 cleaning inside and outside the display cabinets. Show inappropriate display of the collection (placing and positioning the 29&30 39 objects inside and outside the cabinets too high with no descriptions. Show random Display and interpretations of the collections (old labels 31&35 have poor description since 1902 in English and French, others only in 40 English, and others in Arabic and English. Display large papyri collections on the walls of the stairs due to space 36 43 limitations without any labels and description. King Tutankhamun’s cloth (leather and textile objects) suffering due to 37& poor display which carbonized the organic material and the textile stacked 43 38 to the glass. Display according to chronological order (new Kingdom) as an example for 39 out of standards vitrines, no macro, no micro environment control and 44 mixed materials.

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