CAIRO: Egypt on Sunday launched a revamp of the Egyptian Museum, promising to preserve and enhance the storied site even as it loses its most famous collection.
Located in the heart of Cairo on Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum has long been the foremost home for the country’s bounteous collection of antiquities. Financed by 3.1 million euros of EU funding and backed by a consortium of five European museums including the British Museum and the Louvre, the project will also develop a long-term vision for the museum and, officials hope, allow it to win a listing as a UNESCO world heritage site. The initial restructuring of the Egyptian Museum will include the redisplay of several galleries near the entrance and the relocation of the Tanis Royal Tombs to the space vacated by the Tutankhamun collection. Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany repeated a promise that new museums would not pose a threat, and that the Egyptian Museum, which houses more than 150,000 objects, should get “all the support and attention it deserves”. (Reuters)
