Look ahead 2023: How the Grand Egyptian Museum aims to reclaim the country’s ancient past

The Grand Egyptian Museum complex in Giza, Cairo will house the country’s ancient treasures. (Supplied)
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Updated 01 January 2023
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Look ahead 2023: How the Grand Egyptian Museum aims to reclaim the country’s ancient past

  • After delays, opening slated for 2023 will help Egypt to revive its pandemic-hit tourism industry
  • New museum represents symbolic cultural victory for a region whose ancient history was looted

LONDON: Hit by endless delays, political upheavals and, most recently, the curse of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Egyptian Museum has been a long time coming.

But 2023 is the year that the modern complex billed as the world’s largest museum devoted to a single civilization is finally due to open, just in time to help Egypt to revive its badly missed tourism industry.

The opening of the building will be more than an opportunity to kickstart the country’s battered economy. It represents a symbolic cultural victory, not only for Egypt but also an entire region whose ancient history was looted by generations of Western adventurers.

No one knows how the young pharaoh Tutankhamun met his death at the age of 18, around 3,344 years ago. Theories — none of them proven — include malaria, a chariot accident, a bone disorder and even murder.

One thing we do know, however, is that when the “boy king” approached his untimely end, he would have done so comforted by the belief that he and the many possessions that would be buried with his mummified body would soon be on their way to the afterworld, and a glorious afterlife spent in the company of the god Osiris.

But that eternal journey was rudely interrupted in 1922 when the British archaeologist and part-time antiquities dealer Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb.




The only place to see all 5,400 of the artifacts in the Tutankhamun collection from now on will be at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo. (AFP)

Like all Western archaeologist-adventurers of his time, Carter’s plan was to ship the bulk of the treasures back to Europe and sell them to museums.

That this plan was par for the course during the heyday of heritage looting posing as scientific research is attested to by the countless thousands of artifacts, statues, funerary goods, coffins, sarcophagi and mummies from ancient Egypt that today can be found scattered about the Western world, in museums large and small.

In Carter’s case, however, such was the significance of the find that, even though Egypt was a British protectorate at the time, Egyptian officials managed to foil his plans — more or less. In recent years it has emerged that Carter and his colleagues managed to smuggle various items out of Egypt, which they sold to a number of museums in the West.

In 2010 Egypt welcomed the return by the Metropolitan Museum in New York of 19 items taken from Tutankhamun’s tomb. “These objects,” said Thomas P. Campbell, director of the Met at the time, “were never meant to have left Egypt, and therefore should rightfully belong to the Government of Egypt.”

Regardless, since the 1960s, it seems as though the Tutankhamun collection has spent more time out of Egypt than in, circling the world in a series of endless tours.

The first touring exhibition, “Tutankhamun Treasure,” was seen in 24 cities in the US and Canada between 1961 and 1966. Between 1961 and 2021, much of the treasure spent 30 years outside Egypt — three decades during which generations of young Egyptians were denied access to some of the most totemic elements of their heritage.

The existence of the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum will bring this disgraceful state of affairs to an end.

All 5,400 of the artifacts entombed with the king more than 3,300 years ago, including the iconic golden mask, have finally been reunited for the first time since they were unearthed by Carter in the Valley of the Kings.




Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. 

From now on, the only place to see them will be in the correct place — in Egypt, at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

This is a museum like no other. Covering a site of almost 500,000 square meters, the building offers visitors a spectacular panoramic view of the nearby pyramids of Giza.

Besides the headliner, Tutankhamun, the museum houses more than 100,000 artifacts from Egypt’s rich past, dating from prehistory through pharaonic times to the Greek and Roman periods. An 11-meter statue of Ramses the Great dominates the museum’s vast, light-filled entrance atrium, which was built around the imposing 83-ton granite figure.

In the West, museum curators mutter about the superior abilities of Western institutions to protect the heritage of other countries, which, by inference, they deem incapable of doing so.

Egypt, however, has undisputed, and indeed unrivaled, expertise when it comes to protecting and conserving artifacts from its past. A conservation center at the museum has been operational since 2010, having made its mark with Tutankhamun’s outer wooden coffin, which has undergone eight months of careful preservation.

The British Museum argues it is “a museum for the world” — a place where the entire history of the evolution of global civilization can be seen by the whole world, all in one place.

That is fine, provided one lives in London, or has the means and inclination to travel there. But for most Egyptians, that is not an option.




English egyptologist Howard Carter (1873-1939) working on the golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamun in Egypt in 1922. (Apic/Getty Images)

In 2003, the last time Egypt made a determined but ultimately futile attempt to persuade Britain to part with the Rosetta Stone, one of the icons of Egyptian heritage, the British Daily Telegraph remarked sniffily that “if the stone were to be moved” — at that stage, to the Cairo Museum — “it would be seen by far fewer people than is the case today, about 2.5 million visitors a year, compared with the 5.5 million who visit the British Museum annually.”

Again: How many of those 5.5 million are Egyptians, and how many more people from around the world might travel to Egypt to see the stone if it were in the Grand Egyptian Museum?

The opening of the museum comes a century since the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, and 200 years since the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, the ancient stele that held the key to the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

In the past, Egypt has made repeated attempts to have the Rosetta Stone returned. Looted by Napoleon’s troops during his Egyptian campaign of 1798 to 1801, it was seized from him in turn by the British and shipped to the UK in 1802, where it was presented to the British Museum by King George III.

In 2003, Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, then director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo and a future minister of antiquities, told the British press that “if the British want to be remembered, if they want to restore their reputation, they should volunteer to return the Rosetta Stone because it is the icon of our Egyptian identity.”

In 2020, Hawass renewed his campaign, broadening Egypt’s claims to include the return of the bust of Nefertiti from the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, and the Zodiac of Dendera and several other pieces from the Louvre in Paris.

The pressure on international institutions to do the right thing increased in December, when Germany returned to Nigeria 21 artifacts that were among thousands looted by British troops from the west African kingdom of Benin 125 years ago. More than 100 of the so-called Benin bronzes are also held by the University of Cambridge, which last month also agreed to return them to their homeland.




Egypt’s former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass, who campaigned for the return of Egyptian artifacts. (AFP)

However, the bulk of the Benin artifacts are in the possession of the British Museum, which says it has “excellent long-term working relationships with Nigerian colleagues and institutions,” but nevertheless has so far refused to return the items. 

The museum also shows no sign of willingness to part with its Egyptian artifacts. In addition to 38 items “found or acquired” by Howard Carter of Tutankhamun fame, it holds more than 45,000 other artifacts from ancient Egypt — of which fewer than 2,000 are on display.

In February 2020, Dr. Khaled El-Anany, minister of tourism and antiquities, said Egypt was “in direct negotiations with the British Museum and other museums,” insisting that “any objects which left Egypt in an illegal way will return to Egypt.”

As ever, the museum plays its “museum of the world” card.

“At the British Museum, visitors can see the Rosetta Stone alongside other pharaonic temple monuments, but also within the broader context of other ancient cultures, allowing a global public to examine cultural identities and explore the complex network of interconnected human history,” a spokesperson for the British Museum told Arab News.




An 11-meter statue of Ramses the Great at the Grand Egyptian Museum. (Supplied)

The British Museum also points out that it is one of four European museums collaborating with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to renovate the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square as part of a €3.1 million EU-funded project. But does this really compensate for centuries of looting?

Whether any of the world’s museums harboring artifacts taken from Egypt during the imperialist era will take this golden opportunity to return them, boosting their reputations in the process, remains to be seen.

But if ever there was a good time for Egypt’s heritage to be restored to its rightful home, it is surely now, so it may be displayed in the country’s vast new temple to its past, for the benefit of all Egyptians and the many tourists from all over the world who will surely journey to see it. 

Twitter: @JonathanGornall


Palestinian official says Israeli forces killed West Bank teen with US citizenship

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Palestinian official says Israeli forces killed West Bank teen with US citizenship

  • Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids on Bedouin villages and encampments, has intensified since the Gaza war began in October 2023

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: A Palestinian official told AFP that Israeli forces shot dead a teenager holding US citizenship in the occupied West Bank Sunday, while the Israeli military said it had killed a “terrorist” who threw rocks at cars.
Omar Muhammad Saadeh Rabee, a 14-year-old “who was killed in Turmus Ayya, held US citizenship,” the town’s mayor, Lafi Shalabi, told AFP.
The Israeli military said that during “counter-terrorism activity” in Turmus Ayya, “soldiers identified three terrorists who hurled rocks toward the highway, thus endangering civilians driving.”
“The soldiers opened fire toward the terrorists who were endangering civilians, eliminating one terrorist and hitting two additional terrorists,” a military statement added.
The Palestinian health ministry said one person was in critical condition and another suffered minor injuries in the same incident.
Shalabi said one of the wounded also had US citizenship. And Turmus Ayya, northest of the main West Bank city of Ramallah, is known for having many dual US-Palestinian citizens.
The Palestine Red Crescent said its teams had taken the body of the deceased boy to a hospital. It also reported the injuries of two boys shot in the lower abdomen and thigh respectively, during “clashes” in Turmus Ayya.
One of the two, 14-year-old Abdul Rahman Shehadeh, told AFP he was shot by a soldier while collecting fruit near the town.
The second, who was shot in the abdomen, was identified as 14-year-old Ayoub Asaad by his father Ahed Asaad. He confirmed that the boy had a US passport.
Ahed Assad said that an ambulance that took his wounded son to hospital was stopped by soldiers.
“We were stopped at a military checkpoint at the village entrance, and a soldier told me that he was the one who shot the three boys,” he told AFP.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign affairs ministry denounced the Israeli forces’ “use of live fire against three children.”
“Israel’s continued impunity as an illegal occupying power encourages it to commit further crimes,” it added.
Violence has soared in the West Bank since the Gaza war started on October 7, 2023.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 918 Palestinians, including militants, in the West Bank since then, according to Palestinian health ministry figures.
Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 33 Israelis, including soldiers, over the same period, according to official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, home to about three million Palestinians, since 1967.
 

 


Hamas fires rockets at Israeli cities, Israel issues evacuation orders in Gaza

Updated 11 min 29 sec ago
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Hamas fires rockets at Israeli cities, Israel issues evacuation orders in Gaza

  • Israel’s Channel 12 television said at least 12 lightly injured people have been treated as a result of the rocket firing from Gaza, quoting officials at the Bazilai Hospital in Ashkelon

JERUSALEM/CAIRO: Palestinian militant group Hamas said it fired a barrage of rockets at cities in Israel’s south on Sunday in response to Israeli “massacres” of civilians in Gaza.
Israel’s military said about 10 projectiles were fired, but most were successfully intercepted. Israel’s Channel 12 reported a direct hit in the southern city of Ashkelon.
Israeli emergency services said they were treating one person for shrapnel injuries, and teams were en route to locations of fallen rockets. Smashed car windows and debris lay strewn on a city street, videos disseminated by Israeli emergency services showed.
Meanwhile, Gaza local health authorities said Israeli military strikes killed at least 39 people across the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Shortly after the rocket firing, the Israeli military posted on X a new evacuation order, instructing residents of several districts in Deir Al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip to leave their areas, citing earlier rocket firing.
“This is a final warning before the attack,” the military warning statement said.
Later, it said it struck the rocket launcher from which projectiles were launched earlier from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a flight to Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, was briefed on the rocket attack by his Defense Minister, Israel Katz.
A statement issued by his office said Netanyahu instructed that a “vigorous” response be carried out and approved the continuation of intensive activity by the Israeli military against Hamas.
Israel’s Channel 12 television said at least 12 lightly injured people have been treated as a result of the rocket firing from Gaza, quoting officials at the Bazilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
The first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into force on January 19 after 15 months of war and involved a halt to fighting, the release of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners.
However, Israel said on March 19 that its forces resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip. Both parties blamed one another for a stalemate in the ceasefire talks.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Palestinian officials say. Israel began its offensive after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

 


Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

Updated 45 min 53 sec ago
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Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

  • Sharaa and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham

BEIRUT: Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will make his first visit to the United Arab Emirates and is also scheduled to visit Turkiye next week, the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as he continues to garner support for the new administration.
Sharaa, who previously visited Turkiye in February, will make the UAE his second Gulf destination after traveling to
Saudi Arabia that same month on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.
He and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
Sharaa and his officials have also called for a full lifting of sanctions on Syria.
Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kick start an economy collapsed by nearly 14 years of war, during which the United States, the UK and Europe placed tough sanctions on people, businesses and whole sectors of Syria’s economy in a bid to squeeze now-ousted leader Assad.

 


Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

Updated 55 min 58 sec ago
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Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

  • Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints
  • More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants

RABAT, Morocco: Tens of thousands of Moroccans on Sunday protested Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza, putting fury toward US President Donald Trump near the center of their grievances.
In the largest protest Morocco has seen in months, demonstrators denounced Israel, the United States and their own government. Some stepped on Israeli flags, held banners showing slain Hamas leaders and waved posters juxtaposing Trump alongside displaced Palestinians fleeing their homes.
Organizers condemned Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed air and ground strikes last month, aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.

Women lift a banner during a national march in support of Palestinians and against Morocco's normalisation of ties with Israel, in the capital Rabat on April 6, 2025. (AFP)

Such protests have erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, where leaders typically worry about demonstrations undermining domestic stability. Pro-Palestinian rallies were also staged this weekend in the capitals of Tunisia and Yemen as well as in Morocco’s most populous city Casablanca.
In countries that have historically aligned with the US, anti-Trump backlash has emerged as a theme. Demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday condemned his proposal to displace millions of Palestinians to make way for the redevelopment of Gaza. as well as the US efforts to pursue pro-Palestinian activists.
Still, many Moroccans said they saw Trump’s policies as mostly consistent with his predecessor, Joe Biden’s.
“(Trump) has made the war worse,” said Mohammed Toussi, who traveled from Casablanca with his family to protest.
“Biden hid some things but Trump has shown it all,” he added, likening their positions but not their messaging.
Protesters, Toussi said, remain angry about Morocco’s 2020 decision to normalize ties with Israel.
Abdelhak El Arabi, an adviser to Morocco’s former Islamist prime minister, said the reasons Moroccans were protesting had grown throughout the war. He predicted popular anger would continue until the war ends.
“It’s not a war, Gaza is getting erased from the earth,” the 62-year-old Tamesna resident said.
Demonstrations have included a range of groups, including the Islamist association al Adl Wal Ihsan. Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. The war has left most of Gaza in ruins, and at its height displaced around 90 percent of the population.

 


Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

Updated 06 April 2025
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Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

  • According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions

KHARTOUM: Civilians trapped in Sudan’s El-Fasher city are facing “catastrophic” conditions, activists warned on Sunday, with their situation rapidly deteriorating amid a months-long paramilitary siege.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have taken most of the vast Darfur region in their war against the regular army since April 2023, but El-Fasher in North Darfur remains the only regional state capital the RSF has not conquered.
A local advocacy group, the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, said in a statement that residents “bear the brunt of artillery shelling” and live “with the sounds of aircraft and their terrifying and deadly missiles, in addition to the daily suffering of hunger, disease and drought.”
Life in El-Fasher and other areas of Darfur “has come to a complete standstill,” the group said, with no food at markets and a “complete halt” in humanitarian aid.
There was a sharp rise in prices of basic commodities and “a severe shortage in cash,” it added, warning of an “unprecedented and catastrophic deterioration” in already dire conditions in and around El-Fasher.
The RSF-aligned armed group Sudan Liberation Army called on Saturday for civilians in El-Fasher and the nearby displacement camps of Abu Shouk and Zamzan to leave, warning of an “escalation of military operations.”
Another RSF ally, the Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces, said it was ready to “provide safe corridors” for residents to leave and head to “liberated areas” under paramilitary control.
In late March, the RSF announced its fighters had seized Al-Malha, which lies at the foot of a mountainous region 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of El-Fasher.
Al-Malha is one of the northernmost towns in the vast desert region between Sudan and Libya, where the RSF’s critical resupply lines have come under increasing attack in recent months by army-allied groups.
The war has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises. More than 12 million people have been uprooted, tens of thousands killed and a UN-backed assessment declared famine in parts of the country.
According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions.
Zamzam is one of three displacement camps around El-Fasher hit by famine, which a UN-backed assessment says is expected to spread to five more areas including the state capital itself by May.