Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs will go to San Francisco
The San Francisco Fine Arts Museums announced that the touring exhibit “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” will open at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park June 27, 2009, for a nine-month stay, through March 28, 2010. That would be the longest run for any single show in the de Young’s history. The exhibit, which features more than 130 artifacts from the 18th Dynasty king’s opulently appointed tomb and other ancient Egyptian sites, is expected to be a blockbuster. Museum officials hope to exceed the 1 million visitor mark set by “Treasures of Tutankhamun” in its 1979 engagement of four months at the old de Young.
Every piece in the show is at least 3,300 years old. Many of them never traveled outside of Egypt before this tour. The famous gold mask of Tutankhamun, a centerpiece of the ‘79 show, is not included this time around. Among the reasons it doesn’t travel anymore are high insurance rates.
The Tut “Golden Age” exhibit, a joint venture of National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, in cooperation with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, premiered in Los Angeles in 2005. It went on to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Chicago, Philadelphia and London. The show opened over the weekend in Dallas, where it will remain until moving to San Francisco.
Ticket prices and policies for the San Francisco run have not been established. Full-price weekend tickets for the Tut show at the Dallas Museum of Art are $32.50, which includes a $10 museum admission charge.
The M.H. de Young Museum (commonly called de Young Museum) is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It is named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H. de Young.
The museum opened in 1895 as an outgrowth of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 (a fair modeled on the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of the previous year). The building was originally decorated with cast-concrete ornaments on the façade. The ornaments were removed in 1949 as they began to fall and had become a hazard. The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake severely damaged the building.
Architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron and engineers Arup designed the newly rebuilt structure, which reopened on October 15, 2005. The current building is clad with perforated copper plates, which will change colors through exposure to the elements. A 144 ft. (44 m) observation tower allows visitors to see much of Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse and rises above the Park’s treetops providing a view of the Golden Gate and Marin Headlands.
The de Young Museum was the last of seven U.S. museums to host The Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibit in the late 1970s.
More striking numbers on Egypt tourism sector growth
Egypt’s tourism sector grew 24 per cent in the past fiscal year, according to the country’s minister for economic development, Osman Mohamed Osman. Recently released Central Bank figures show that Egypt recorded a balance of payments surplus of $5.4 billion in the year up to June - up from $5.2 billion a year earlier; and net services and transfer revenue from tourism jumped 32.3 per cent to $10.8 billion, whilst revenue from the Suez Canal rose 23.6 per cent to $5.2 billion due to an increase in shipping through the waterway and an increase in tonnage.
The World Travel and Tourism Council expects the sector to rise from 16.1 per cent of GDP this year to 17.3 per cent by 2018 – equivalent to $39.5 billion and to account for one in every seven jobs. Export earnings from foreign visitors are expected to generate $12.9 billion this year, rising to over $20 billion in 10 years’ time.
With Egypt targeting to lure around 14 million tourists by the end of 2011, the report estimates that the country needs to build 240,000 hotel rooms by then and that this will require an annual investment of over $1 billion. This represents a huge opportunity for infrastructure developers, particularly hotel groups.
A palace in heaven
Sheikhu Mosque, a fine 14th century structure in the Mamluk style, was officially re-opened after four years of painstaking conservation work. Across the road, its sister building, the Sheikhu Khanqah was also unveiled.
The mosque and khanqah were named after the Amir Sheikhu, who built them between 1349 and 1355, during the early Mamluk period. “Amir Sheikhu was a military man,” Abdullah Al-Attar, an official from the Ministry of Culture told Daily News Egypt. “Many such princes were quite radical and concerned with power. However, by the end of their lives, they would build mosques in order to purify the negative deeds they had done during their life. They wanted to go to heaven, and in the Quran it says that those who build mosques will have a palace in heaven.”
The detail present in the buildings is indeed impressive. Elaborate Quranic inscriptions in blue and white decorate the ceiling of the main prayer hall in the khanqah. The two minbars (imam’s pulpits) boast delicate carving in stone and wooden mashrabiya screens, while damaged marble floors and mosaics have been patched and re-laid. Everywhere are the distinctive red-and-white-striped arches typical of Mamluk architecture.
The simple prayer rooms contain no furniture, just a few small shelves and a window overlooking the courtyard. In line with the principles spelled out in the UNESCO-inspired plan for salvaging such sites, the rooms will be returned to their original use once the building is handed over to the Ministry of Religious Endowments later this month.
In one corner of the khanqah’s prayer hall sits an enclosed space with a smooth marble floor. As conservator Mamdouh Ouda explained, beneath the floor lies the Amir’s tomb, the stone structure above it having been pilfered at some point by “the common people.” On the walls above the Amir’s resting place are two frescos depicting scenes from Mecca, both of which have been restored to something of their former glory.
These renovations are just the latest in a long line of such works in the area commonly known as Islamic Cairo, which runs roughly from the Northern Gates of the Fatimid city wall down to Ibn Toloun Mosque and the Citadel in the south. Several hundred such monuments from the times of Saladin through to the 19th century have been listed by UNESCO since 1979, and each year a couple of dozens see the light magically renewed.
The primary value of such works is in saving the nation’s cultural and religious heritage. But the government is also very much aware of the area’s potential for boosting tourism.
Excerpted from an article by David Stanford for Daily News Egypt
World’s weight lifting champion faces the burden of indifference at home
Egypt is filled with people who face adversity, most often a function of poverty and systemic indifference. It is a class-based society with an unwritten contract that many people believe condemns them to live as they were born, poor and marginalized. There is a pervasive feeling of impotence, a collective belief that fighting back is futile.
But Heba Said Ahmed never refers to fate; she talks about choices. She does not talk about obstacles; she talks about challenges. “I think there has to be a bit of struggle in your life,” she said. “It strengthens you. It builds character.”
Ms. Ahmed, who had polio as a child, won a gold medal in power lifting during the Paralympic Games in Beijing. She broke a world record in her 181-pound weight class, too, lifting 341 pounds. A few days earlier she was being lauded as an Egyptian Hercules. During the Olympic Games, which preceded the Paralympics in China, Egypt did poorly, earning just one bronze medal. But in the Paralympics, Egypt earned 12 medals, including four golds. “Face savers,” read the headline on Al Ahram Weekly, an English-language newspaper. It was an extraordinary achievement coming from a country where physical disabilities are largely seen as props for street begging.
The youngest of five children, Ms. Ahmed was raised in a second floor walk-up in Zagazig, a small Nile Delta city, north of Cairo. Her father was an accountant for the government. Her mother died when she was 14. Ms. Ahmed had her childhood vaccinations, but she still had polio. Ms. Ahmed’s father encouraged her to go to school and to care for herself. She graduated from Zagazig University with a degree in psychology.
When she was a teenager, her father sent her to physical therapy, where one of the aides noticed her extraordinary upper body strength. Ms. Ahmed started training, then competing, and eventually started racking up titles. She was recruited to the national Paralympic team.
Ms. Ahmed won two African titles. She won a world championship. She won a gold medal during the Paralympics in Athens four years ago, and set a world record in the process. Then she went up a weight class, won a gold in Beijing and set a world record in that weight class, too.
After the stellar showing in Beijing, there was hope that even people with physical limitations could be accepted as heroes. The athletes were greeted by Egypt’s first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, and the president’s son Gamal. They were also promised cash rewards for their victories. But then it was back home to Zagazig, and a return to indifference.
Excerpted from an article by Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times Middle East
King Tut and Egyptomania
Now that King Tut is doing Dallas, this is a perfect time to reflect on the many ways ancient Egypt has influenced American culture and the rest of the world. The list is gathered from Andrew Marton’s article for the Star Telegram but I’ve added to it.
Music
Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
King Tut by comedian Steve Martin
Movies
The Mummy - 1932 original starring Boris Karloff
“Mummy” - a sequence of films first released in 1999, starring Brendan Fraser
The Mummy’s Curse - 1944 movie starring Lon Chaney Jr.
Cleopatra - 1934 original starring Claudette Colbert and the 1963 blockbuster of the same name featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
The Ten Commandments - 1923 and 1956 Biblical films but who can ignore the Egyptian setting.
The Egyptian - 1954 movie loosely and poorly based on the wonderful novel Sinuhe the Egyptian by Mika Waltari
We Want Our Mummy - 1939 slapstick comedy by the Three Stooges.
Death on the Nile - 1978 movie based on Agatha Christie’s suspense novel
The Jewel of the Nile - 1985 film featuring sizzling pair Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner
The Prince of Egypt - 1998 animated film based on the Ten Commandments
Television
Batman with Victor Buono as arch-enemy “King Tut”
Tutenstein - Animated series from Discovery Kids about a 10 year old pharaoh brought back to life
Actor
Omar Sharif - Alexandria born actor made famous for his roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago
Belly dancing
Little Egypt, also known as “Fatima”
Sport
Bowling - the origin of this sport occurred thousands of years ago at a simple lane about 56 miles south of Cairo
Pyramids and obelisks
Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tenn.
Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas
Pyramid Arena at Cal State
Pyramid entranceway to the Louvre Museum in Paris
The Washington Monument obelisk
Expressions
“Sphinxlike” refering to someone bearing an inscrutable, unreadable facial expression
“Pyramid scheme” meaning a corrupt form of making easy money
“Inverted pyramid” as a form of organizing a news story
Eateries
King Tut - a Fort Worth institution since opening in 1992
Campisi’s Egyptian Restaurant - where Jack Ruby dined the night before John F. Kennedy was assassinated
And of course, the legendary and pervasive “mummy’s curse”.
The Galleries of Tutankhamen’s Exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art
“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” consists of 12 galleries charting the history of Tutankhamen and his forebears.
Gallery 1: Introduction Theater with an imposing statue setting the mood for the lavish display ahead, 130 artifacts, 50 of them from the pharaoh’s tomb.
Gallery 2: Egypt before Tutankhamen and Daily Life in Ancient Egypt introduces the pharaoh’s ancestors and immediate family.
Gallery 3: Traditional Beliefs with Egyptian deities represented in statues, vessels, amulets and figurines.
Gallery 4: Death, Burial and the Afterlife features a coffin, gold death mask and ushabtiu from the tomb of Yuya and Tuya, presumed great grandparents of Tutankhamen.
Gallery 5: Religious Revolution also known as the Amarna period, during the reign of Akhenaten, Tutankhamen’s presumed father, who established the rule of only one god.
Gallery 6: The Discovery of Tutankhamen’s Tomb is devoted to Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, archaeologist and financial supporter of the expedition, respectively.
Gallery 7: The Boy King with the painted torso of Tutankhamen, one of the show’s most dazzling pieces, which some scholars believe may have been used as a mannequin or perhaps as a substitute of the pharaoh during religious rituals.
Gallery 8: Daily Life in Tutankhamen’s World contains the items the king used in his lifetime and the funerary objects for his use in the afterlife including furniture, personal items and a game of Senet.
Gallery 9: Tutankhamen’s Tomb shows statues and regalia pertaining to his role as pharaoh and high priest.
Gallery 10: Causing his Name to Live has to do with all the preparations ancient Egyptians thought necessary for the afterlife.
Gallery 11: The Burial Chamber of Tutankhamen with five exquisite artifacts found in the mummy, including the royal diadem and a magnificent dagger.
Gallery 12: New Discoveries examines the theories behind Tutankhamen’s early death, including conspiracy and fatal accident.
The Egyptian government expects between $10 million and $12 million from the Tutankhamen’s exhibit at the DMA. Officials said Wednesday that, so far, the DMA has sold 125,000 tickets. At an average of $22 a ticket, that’s about $2.75 million.
The exhibition, which opened in Los Angeles in 2005, with Dallas its fifth stop, has gone on tour solely to help build a $700 million museum in Cairo, destined to become the home of Tut’s and many other treasures.
Amarna lecture given at University of Dallas
“So have you made your lists and checked them twice? I hear King Tut’s coming to town,” joked Dr. James Hoffmeier, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Trinity International University, who addressed an audience of about 50 in the Art History Building on Sept. 25.
Since 1999, Hoffmeier and his team have been working on excavations at a fortress-outpost from the Armana period in the northern Sinai region of present day Tell el-Borg. He noted that around 1300 BC, this location was outside the boundaries of Egypt.
Hoffmeier explained that most scholars have thought that, during the reign of Akhenaten, the empire began to collapse, with the pharaoh’s armies pulling back to within the borders. Shards of wine pots found in the area might alter that view, however. Each shard Hoffmeier presented bore the cartouche-hieroglyphic name-of the pharaoh under whom the wine was bottled. With these, Hoffmeier has been able to trace an unbroken line of cartouches of seven consecutive Egyptian rulers, including those of Akhenaten and Tutankhamen, evidence that the fortress was occupied continuously throughout the period, which challenges the idea that Egypt became isolationist during Akhenaten’s reign.
The dig site’s web page is www.tellelborg.org.
Egypt to retrieve ushabti from Netherlands
A precious 4,000 year old ushabti from the 19th Dynasty will finally return to Egypt. The artifact, discovered in Saqqara in 1985, stolen and then auctioned, was identified by experts at a museum in Lyden, the Netherlands, after it was presented to them by an amateur collector who had bought the item without knowledge of its provenance.
Dutch authorities delivered the ushabti to representatives of the Egyptian government.
Ushabtis are small mummy-form figurines, complete with hieroglyphs meant to represent the deceased and to act as his substitute when required by the gods to perform manual labor in the afterlife. The wealthier the deceased was, the more ushabtis were placed in his tomb. Its size and numbers make them an easy target for smugglers to illegally export from Egypt.
Abducted Egypt tourists freed
A group of Western tourists and their Egyptian guides, who were kidnapped 10 days ago by gunmen, have been freed. The 11 hostages - five Italians, five Germans and a Romanian - and their guides are said to be in good health.
The group, abducted in a remote border region of Egypt, are now en route to a military base in the capital, Cairo. During their captivity they were moved around a lawless desert area straddling Egypt, Sudan, Libya and Chad. No ransom was paid, Egyptian officials said.
The freeing of the Westerners was reported on Egyptian state television and confirmed by Italian officials.
India to help Egypt in conserving a key tourist destination
India will help Egypt in conserving and maintaining one of its key tourist spots in Cairo. The Baron Palace, also known as Hindu Villa, is facing decay because of lack of appropriate care by the authorities there.
A three-member team of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the premier organization for archaeological research and protection of the cultural heritage in the country, will soon travel to the African nation to assist it in conserving and maintaining the the palace, which was built in 1905.
The Baron Palace, located in the new city of Heliopolis in Cairo is named after Belgian builder and the resident of Place Baron-General Edouard Louis Joseph Empain. Baron Empain founded Heliopolis district, 10 km from Cairo, as he bought 6,000 acres of land in desert with one Egyptian pound from Nubar Pasha. The palace hosted King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium during the pre-World War I visit to Egypt.
ASI, which conserves the majority of temples and archaeological sites in India, has lately started spreading its wings abroad with a number of countries submitting proposals to it requesting its expertise in conserving and maintaining historical places, religious and heritage buildings.
