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Cairo museum weighs up cost of protests

By Shahira Amin Video for CNN
March 9, 2011 -- Updated 1250 GMT (2050 HKT)
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Preserving Egypt's treasured artifacts
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Cairo's Egyptian Museum houses ancient treasures
  • Former minister of antiquities says looters caused minimal damage
  • Missing items include a jar used to hold internal organs of the dead before mummification

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Cairo's Egyptian Museum houses some of the world's greatest ancient treasures, but last month's unrest prompted fears over the fate of its historical artifacts.

Among the prized objects at the Egyptian Museum are towering statues of ancient pharaohs, a rare collection of royal mummies and intricately painted sarcophagi.

But it is perhaps King Tutankhamun's treasures that continue to draw the biggest crowds.

King Tut's golden mask, a collection of exquisite jewelry from his tomb, and two magnificent golden coffins are among the star attractions.

Zahi Hawass was Egypt's minister of antiquities before and during the revolution, but this week he announced on his website that he was resigning from the post.

In a statement on his website Hawass said that while the Egyptian Museum had been well protected during the recent revolution, heritage sites elsewhere in the country were now being attacked by criminals and thieves.

But Hawass says no harm came to King Tut's golden death mask during the revolution.

After an inspection tour with the museum's team of curators, he insists that damage caused to the museum by looters was minimal.

"We have more than 100,000 artifacts in the museum," Hawass said.

"When I came that day, 29th of January, and I saw through the monitor the golden mask, the famous masterpieces of Tanis, Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, I said 'Cairo Museum is safe.'"

Hawass won't give an estimate of the total loss suffered by the museum in the looting. But other priceless artifacts are missing or were damaged by intruders who, according to museum director Tarek El Awady, broke into the museum through a glass window in the ceiling.

When they found out this is wood not solid gold they left it and it was found on the floor.
--Tarek El Awady, director, Egyptian Museum
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"They broke the glass of this showcase and grabbed one of the artifacts," El Awady said. "When they found out it was wood not solid gold they left it and it was found on the floor."

One of the suspects was injured by broken glass, and spots of blood still stain the wooden floors and objects that he handled during the break-in.

A statue of a soldier dating back to the Middle Kingdom (around 2125 B.C. to 1650 B.C.) was damaged but it has since been restored.

El Awady says an ancient model of a boat has also been carefully put together again after being smashed by looters and is now back on display.

But a big relief for Egyptian archaeologists was retrieving a priceless statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten.

"King Akhenaten, he was a unique king, he was the one who called for one religion, worshipped one God and he had a revolution," El Awady said.

"His statue was taken during the revolution and it was back a few days after. This story will be told when we recover all our missing artifacts."

Hawass recalls how the prized statue was found. "Someone threw it in Tahrir Square," he said.

"A young boy aged 16 found it near a garbage can. He took it home and brought it back."

But several empty showcases in the museum indicate that the search for missing treasures in not over.

A collection of four canopic jars -- traditionally used by the ancient Egyptians as containers to hold the internal organs of the deceased before mummification -- is missing one jar.

Egyptian parents continue to bring their children to the museum to educate them about their past and encourage them to take pride in their rich ancient heritage -- one which is treasured by visitors from around the world.

"I flew in on Sunday and the first place I came to see was the Cairo museum," said British-born archaeologist Paul Barford.

Another visitor, photographer Karina Sutherland, said: "Without the museum and the antiquities there's no soul left in Egypt."

Preserving a glorious past well into the future is what they hope to do at the museum, one artifact at a time.

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soundoff (10 Comments)
  • ElPasoan1
    Guys, when you're in a poor country, you go where the money is. Just like Mexico, these crooks know that college kids have money for school, so it's makes sense for them to kidnap these students. I'm surprised Hawass himself was not kidnapped. He had his own TV show and that screams MONEY- cha-ching... more
  • alinc
    try this art-piece melody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

  • vince862
    Although the ordinary citizens of Cairo did an excellent job of protecting the museum from looters during the revolution, I think this article clearly points out the need to disperse priceless historical around the world in highly secure museums -- not keep them all in one place which Zahi has been ... more
  • BandonLuna
    I won't be going to Egypt any time soon and probably never. The treatment of women, including tourists (not just recently but much in the past) tells me they don't need my money.
  • Guest
    Been in Cairo one year ago and will go again as soon as i can. Got to know wonderful people down there, great hospitality, miss my friends now more than ever.
  • BLC2005
    Don't kid yourselves. Egypt needs tourism and the Yankee bakeesh. Tt has no resources and exports nothing. Without tourism many people would struggle to make ends meet in a country where most live on less than 2 dollars a day.
  • bobthemoose
    im sure you wont be missed.
  • Zanooba
    Wow, you feel this way about Cairo?? Imagine how you'd feel about Yemen SMH... a lot of people need a reality check. I'm sure they'll do fine without your money, by the way.
  • egyptboat
    Firstly, the title to this article is wrong - it wasn't the protests that cost the Museum or Egypt - it was the corrupt government of Mubarak. The title is an insult to the Revolutionaries. Secondly, there were only 3 canopic jars of Tuya and Yuya originally on display, not the traditional 4. Also, ... more
  • sekainoheiwa
    i shall visit Egypt soon, and hopefully all the artifacts would have been restored by then.