The first national Museum established in the Middle East was the famous Cairo Museum.  The Museum has a long history that started in 1835 when Champollion presented to Mohamed Ali Pacha, ruler of Egypt a petition to establish a museum in order to store and protect the many monuments collected out of the digs in the pharaonic sites. Champollion wanted the whole world to admire these exclusive pieces located in Egypt he personally is fond of.

          The 15th of August 1835, the first museum was erected near the Azbakiah pool. Youssef Zia was head of the Museum, which was closed by 1855. In 1858, the Boulak Museum replaced the previous one. Ismail Pacha officially inaugurated Boulak Museum in 1863 and the first guidebook of the museum was published in French the same year, Arabic translation followed in 1869. The Nile flood occurred in 1878 together with the discovery in 1881 of the royal mummy cache at Deir El Bahary,  urged the need of a new and larger house to host the growing number of discovered Antiquities.  Ismail Pacha offered in 1890 the use of one of his palaces in Giza for that purpose and the museum treasures moved to their new location. The continuous discovery of more monuments and mummies needed a larger display; this led Abbas Helmi Pacha to raise funds for the building of a new museum. April 1897 started the foundation of the museum opened in November 1902. The museum collection gradually increased and the place is actually hosting more than 140,000 precious monument. *Cynthia Sheikholeslami and Dr.Mohamed Saleh

         The museum collection is constantly enriched with the excavation findings of Egyptian and foreign archaeologists and displaying adequately these objects became an on- going challenge. Provincial museums have partly helped to solve the problem that still exists as the Cairo museum in its present location in Midan El Tahrir is subject to threats from the environmental surroundings of buildings and heavy traffic and not to neglect vibrations and pollution.

         A new Great Egyptian Museum is urgently needed to display the objects in the proper way they deserve. A site 480,000 square meter has been carefully chosen 2.5 km north the Pyramids. A comprehensive context will highlight the value of more than 100,000 exhibited objects. Dr.Mohamed Saleh, Director of the project had stated:

" When the present Egyptian Museum was designed at the end of the 19th century, the approximately 35,000 objects to be accommodated in its 15,000 square meters of exhibition space allowed the easy flow of visitors from gallery to gallery.  The air circulation was adequate for the number of visitors (about 500 per day), and natural lighting was deemed sufficient to illuminate the objects on exhibit".

         The number of visitors grew daily from the 500 to range from 6 to 7000 per day, around 2.5 million a year; the problem became more difficult because of the space limitation in the present building. The growing number of visitors together with the increase occurred in staff and personnel pressed SCA to act quickly and efficiently. Major steps are taken in order to establish the new museum according to updated measures and technology. Appropriate laboratories will be specially set for conservation, restoration and maintenance of objects displayed together with centres for studies, design and display. A better lighting and climatic conditions will be secured, and an open-air display will be specified for larger size monuments.

         The Great Egyptian Museum is designed to include an auditorium, a media and a publication centre for books, CDs, video tapes…etc. The production of duplicates and replicas for sale is also planed. The creation of a data bank and an Egyptological Library will satisfy the need of many scholars keen on the study of the museum collection.

         The actual Cairo Museum is not retiring, the museum will still stand in Midan El Tahrir exhibiting around 5000 masterpieces as states Dr.Mohamed Saleh. The 19th century design and concept will be maintained as well.

         A special exhibition was arranged in Cairo Museum in honor of the 8th International Congress of Egyptologists. According to Dr. Gaballah, "The Museum registry represent objects coming from excavations conducted by both Egyptians and by colleagues from all over the world: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America." 

The Egyptian Museum at the Millennium present the theme of the congress exhibition that features 40 recent finds as "The State of Egyptology at the Millennium". These objects originate from sites spreading all over Egypt; they are part of the findings from excavations held by Egyptian and Foreign missions that are usually kept in storage due to "the present lack of displays in the museum" as announces Dr. Gaballah. 

      Part of the exhibits is here underlined as Dr. El Shimy meant to illustrate some of the most beautiful and interesting objects, which have recently entered the Egyptian Museum. He says "without the great achievements of archaeologists excavating at sites all over Egypt and art historians working with the museum's collections in the last fifty years, we would not have been able to present this special exhibition. I am so happy to participate with my colleagues in preparing this display in our great museum as a way of thanking all of them".

Written by:
Naglaa El Zahlawi

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