Fit for a King (Tutankhamun, That Is)
Friday January 6, 2006
Great Egyptian Museum Plans Revealed
By Stan Parchin
Friday, January 6, 2006
During the annual conference of the Museums Association in London, England (October 24 to October 26, 2005), plans for the Great Egyptian Museum were revealed by Dr. Yasser Mansour, its project director. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2007, with completion in 2010. The massive museum will be located two kilometers from the Old Kingdom pyramids at Giza (which will be visible from the edifice's top floor) and 15 kilometers from the center of Cairo. An estimated 100,000 artworks and artifacts from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and other regional locations will be brilliantly displayed there using modern installation techniques. The building will also include a state-of-the-art research facility and space for extensive storage. Once the GEM has opened, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo will still exhibit some 10,000 objects.
Planning stages for the GEM began in 1992. The international design competition for the new museum culminated in the May 2003 announcement of Heneghan Peng, an Irish architecture firm, as the winner of the contest and its $890,000 (US) cash prize. The Egyptian Ministry of Culture co-organized the competition with UNESCO and the International Union of Architects. Since then, London's Metaphor has been working as the building's master planner and principal exhibition designer.
The project has been handicapped financially. Estimated building costs have soared from $350 million (US) to $550 million (US). So foreign investors are actively being sought for half of the construction expenses. The Japanese appear to be leading the way by means of a possible substantial grant, accompanied by a major loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The Egyptians have pledged to pay for the remainder of the costs by means of government funding. In addition, they hope to generate more than $30 million (US) in revenues from Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, a special exhibition about the boy king and his times currently on a 27-month, four-city American tour. Having been seen in Switzerland and Germany before coming to the United States, the show is scheduled to travel to London after its stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The entranceway of the museum's monumental façade will open up into an enormous Grand Court. Natural sunlight will illuminate an 83-ton colossal statue of New Kingdom Pharaoh Ramesses II (reigned ca. 1279-1213 B.C.). Presently the monolithic sculpture is located awkwardly outside a Cairo railroad station, exposed to the elements and pollution. Part of the museum will display objects arranged thematically and chronologically, broken up into five main areas. And Tutankhamun's tomb treasures will be liberated from their antiquated home in the Egyptian Museum. Approximately 4000 of them will be permanently displayed in the new building, a highlight for tourists and serious-minded scholars alike.
Dr. Mansour anticipates that the GEM, open during the day and at night, will attract five million visitors annually. That's 3500 people per hour.
For an artist's rendering of the Great Egyptian Museum and a more detailed description of the building project, go to http://www.gem.gov.eg.
Image credit:
Canopic Coffin of Tutankhamun (detail)
Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII (r. 1332-1322 B.C.)
Valley of the Kings
Beaten gold inlaid with obsidian and rock crystal
H. 39 cm
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
© Andreas F. Voegelin, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig
By Stan Parchin
Friday, January 6, 2006
During the annual conference of the Museums Association in London, England (October 24 to October 26, 2005), plans for the Great Egyptian Museum were revealed by Dr. Yasser Mansour, its project director. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2007, with completion in 2010. The massive museum will be located two kilometers from the Old Kingdom pyramids at Giza (which will be visible from the edifice's top floor) and 15 kilometers from the center of Cairo. An estimated 100,000 artworks and artifacts from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and other regional locations will be brilliantly displayed there using modern installation techniques. The building will also include a state-of-the-art research facility and space for extensive storage. Once the GEM has opened, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo will still exhibit some 10,000 objects.
Planning stages for the GEM began in 1992. The international design competition for the new museum culminated in the May 2003 announcement of Heneghan Peng, an Irish architecture firm, as the winner of the contest and its $890,000 (US) cash prize. The Egyptian Ministry of Culture co-organized the competition with UNESCO and the International Union of Architects. Since then, London's Metaphor has been working as the building's master planner and principal exhibition designer.
The project has been handicapped financially. Estimated building costs have soared from $350 million (US) to $550 million (US). So foreign investors are actively being sought for half of the construction expenses. The Japanese appear to be leading the way by means of a possible substantial grant, accompanied by a major loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The Egyptians have pledged to pay for the remainder of the costs by means of government funding. In addition, they hope to generate more than $30 million (US) in revenues from Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, a special exhibition about the boy king and his times currently on a 27-month, four-city American tour. Having been seen in Switzerland and Germany before coming to the United States, the show is scheduled to travel to London after its stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The entranceway of the museum's monumental façade will open up into an enormous Grand Court. Natural sunlight will illuminate an 83-ton colossal statue of New Kingdom Pharaoh Ramesses II (reigned ca. 1279-1213 B.C.). Presently the monolithic sculpture is located awkwardly outside a Cairo railroad station, exposed to the elements and pollution. Part of the museum will display objects arranged thematically and chronologically, broken up into five main areas. And Tutankhamun's tomb treasures will be liberated from their antiquated home in the Egyptian Museum. Approximately 4000 of them will be permanently displayed in the new building, a highlight for tourists and serious-minded scholars alike.
Dr. Mansour anticipates that the GEM, open during the day and at night, will attract five million visitors annually. That's 3500 people per hour.
For an artist's rendering of the Great Egyptian Museum and a more detailed description of the building project, go to http://www.gem.gov.eg.
Image credit:
Canopic Coffin of Tutankhamun (detail)
Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII (r. 1332-1322 B.C.)
Valley of the Kings
Beaten gold inlaid with obsidian and rock crystal
H. 39 cm
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
© Andreas F. Voegelin, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig
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