New plans for Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Egypt has 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.

But it will soon lose some of the treasure from King Tutankhamun’s tomb to the Grand Egyptian Museum, due to open next year next to the Giza pyramids, while a collection of royal mummies is being transferred to another new site in Cairo, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

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.

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 listingas a UNESCO world heritage site.

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”.

“The time has come to shed a new light on the museum’s rich collection, upgrade its physical structure and improve its research and programming activities to reach the highest international standards,” he told a launch event in the museum’s garden.

The apparently casual management and display of artefacts at the Egyptian Museum surprises some visitors. In 2014 employees damaged King Tutankhamun’s golden burialmask by gluing its dislodged beard back on.

But it charms many others with its old-fashioned feel.

Tourism is a key sector in Egypt’s economy and a major source of foreign revenue. It has been gradually recovering from the political turmoil and security problems that followed the “Arab Spring” civil unrest of 2011.

Enany said he was aggrieved that Egypt had to confront the continued loss of antiquities through looting and smuggling.

“I’m saddened to see every now and then some Egyptian antiquities put on sale in the international market. We have succeeded in the ministry in the last few years in repatriating thousands of objects and will continue to do so,” the Antiquities Minister said.

He appealed to foreign ambassadors and cultural attaches, international organizations, and UNESCO “to join efforts to stop the looting, selling and illicit trafficking of antiquities”.

REUTERS

NAUČTE SE GRAMATIKU PODLE TEXTU

Dnes se podíváme na složené přídavné jméno long-term ve větě: „… the project will also develop a long-term vision…“ („…projekt též vytvoří dlouhodobou vizi…“). Toto přídavné jméno je utvořeno z původního long term (dlouhá doba). Tímto způsobem často vyjadřujeme, jak dlouho něco trvá např. a three-week holiday (třítýdenní dovolená), a thirty-minute walk (třicetiminutová procházka). Pamatujme na neurčitý člen před složeným přídavným jménem, spojovník a podstatné jméno v jednotném čísle. Podobně také: a three-kilo bag (tříkilová taška), a two-meter snake(dvoumetrový had).

VYBERTE SPRÁVNÝ VÝRAZ:

We had a ten-minutes / a ten-minute delay. This is a sixty-minute / sixty-minute lesson. He saw a fourmeter / a four-meter crocodile.

Řešení: a ten-minute, a sixty-minute, a four-meter

SLOVÍČKA

antiquity starožitnost

revamp vylepšení, renovace

enhance zlepšit, pozvednout

foremost nejpřednější

bounteous bohatý, hojný

treasure poklad

tomb hrobka

mummy mumie

vacate uvolnit, vyprázdnit

back podpořit

listing seznam, výčet

pose a threat představovat hrozbu

deserve zasloužit si

shed light vnést světlo

apparently zřejmě, zjevně

burial pohřební

dislodge uvolnit se

beard vousy

charm okouzlit, učarovat

revenue celkový příjem

turmoil zmatek, chaos

civil unrest občanské nepokoje

aggrieved zarmoucený

looting rabování, drancování

smuggling pašování

illicit nedovolený, nezákonný

trafficking obchodování

Source: LN