Entries from June 2010 ↓

Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Downtown Cairo

(AP: Yahoo News) CAIRO – Egypt’s massive new museum for its famous antiquities now has a power plant, a fire station and its own conservation center, and over the next two years it will become home to some 100,000 artifacts, officials said Monday.  A partial opening for the 120-acre museum complex, which will house King Tutankhamun’s famed mummy and golden burial effects and a replica of his tomb, is set for the fall of 2012.  Plans for the museum, which will replace the century-old building visited by millions annually in Cairo’s heaving downtown, were first conceived in 2002 and it will display more than twice as many artifacts as its predecessor.  The museum will eventually house 100,000 artifacts, said Mohammed Ghoneim, the project’s technical consultant said. Tens of thousands of artifacts are currently locked away unseen in the old museum due to lack of space to display them.  Egypt’s first lady Suzanne Mubarak on Monday inaugurated the first two phases of the $600 million Grand Museum of Egypt, which is located at the foot of the Giza Pyramids. 

The main achievement so far is the construction of the new conservation center to restore damaged antiquities and already 122 conservators are restoring and preparing 6,800 artifacts that will one day be showcased in the Grand Museum.  A documentation unit is also working to create a computerized database for all the artifacts.  The conservation center is “designed to be the largest such center in the world, in terms of the services it offers and the number of laboratories,” Ghoneim said. “It is built to restore Egyptian antiquities but also to be a regional conservation center.”  Established with Japanese technical assistance, the center includes 12 laboratories for restoring, scanning and studying mummies as well as artifacts made from pottery, wood, textiles and glass. Staff are also receiving training in Japan.  Shadia Kinawi, the head of the committee overseeing the museum, said Japan has provided a $300 million loan for the museum, while the Egyptian culture ministry will provide $150 million.  Some $27 million were donated to the museum, she said. Over 30 firms have already submitted tenders for building the main galleries of the museum.

At first sight it may appear pretty nondescript, how you might describe your everyday pet goldfish! But take a closer look at this 7cm fish. It has the most amazing violet streak below the eye, which illuminates the surrounding water. On mass the orange/gold colour of their body lights up the entire reef making you think you are surrounded by thousands of stars.

Also known as the lyretail coralfish, the lyretail anthia or the scalefin anthia, anthias are members of the family Serranidae (basses, basslets, groupers) and make up the subfamily Anthiinae. They occur in all tropical oceans and seas of the world from the western Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean as far east as Japan and Southeast Australia. The first species recognized in this group was described in the Mediterranean and northeast Atlantic and was given the name Anthias anthias by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. Pretty remarkable stuff, huh!  Small, peaceful and beautiful they form complex social structures based on the number of males and females and also their position on the reef itself. They are mainly zooplankton feeders and shoal by the thousands. The male, 15 cm in length and a fuschia colour with a very distuinguishing banner, retains a harem of 5-10 females. When the male dies (no surprise there) one of the females will undergo sex reversal and take the place of the missing male!

       

Behold the legendary treasures of King Tut. For the first time in a generation, revel in the splendor of the ancient Egyptian world as you view a dazzling array of possessions unearthed from his tomb, along with antiquities representing his family and contemporaries. All new exhibits in New York City now until January 2nd and starting in Denver June 29th until January 9th. Take advantage of the last chance to see the famous treasures of the boy king on display in the USA. After January 9, 2011, the treasures of King Tut return to Egypt forever!

Check out a video of Emperor Elite as a European dive group goes south to the Sudan border.  The 8-minutes teaser includes marvellous views from reefs of Elba, Abu Fendera, St. Johns, Fury Shoals, Elphinstone including sitings of silky shark, crocodile fish, scorpionfish, octopus, ‘popcorn crab’, nudibranch and even underwater treasures (captain’s bell!).

Emperor Divers thanks to Kai Kaasalainen for this superb video. Watch it here.

Post courtesy of Emperor Divers news blog

Trip Highlights: 11 days/9 Nights Cairo, Luxor, Land based day diving in Sharm El Sheikh and Dahab

Hi Mr. Afifi:  Just a quick note to say how much I along with Joe Fogel, Tom McConnell and Dan Schopp enjoyed our first visit to Egypt.  Egypt is an amazing place with a rich history and wonderful people. We worked closely with Darlene and David at Learning Through Travel out of New York on this FAM trip.  They did an excellent job on the trip itinerary, but your team had to do the actual tours and logistics once we arrived in Egypt.  From the moment we arrived we were treated with exceptional service and that continued throughout the trip.  Your team is to be commended and the Learning Through Travel experience will be recommended without reservation to travel prospects.  Well done!  Rami was incredible.  An excellent communicator and problem solver.  We made changes during our trip with a balloon air ride in Luxor, spending one a night in Sharm El Sheik to dive the Ras Mohamed, adding Dan Shopp to our visit to Petra, Jordan and riding camels to the top of Mt Sinai.  All handled without a hitch.  Nice.  Rami, was a take charge person that made things happen and a joy to be with (kind of like traveling with a friend).  Awesome! Tarek was absolutely an amazing driver!  Hotel selection was very impressive.  Manal did a great tour of Cairo and was good at navigating the various venues and helped us with shopping.  We felt we were in good hands during our visit.  Ahmed and George did great tours of Luxor, the temples and the Valley of the Kings.  Rami and Tarek resumed contact with us in Sharm, Dahab and Mt. Sinai.  The diving was great in Ras Mohamed and the wall dives in Dahab we absolutely amazing.  The dive masters Mohamed Said and Mora (hope I got the spelling right) did great jobs in Sharm and Dahab.  The trip to Jordan went well as well.  Basim and the tour coordinator did a great job in Petra.  The camel ride to the top (plus a bit of a hike at the top) at Mt Sinai plus the visit to St. Catherine’s was very special!  In summary, it was an outstanding trip.  We are sharing our trip with others in the Atlanta market.  Should something develop, we’ll be in touch with Darlene.  Once again thank you for wonderful experience!  You have an excellent group of professionals in Egypt! Shukran! 

Bryan Kovacs, Trip Leader: Atlanta Dive Group