Almost two months since he took on Egypt's antiquities portfolio, Minister of State for Antiquities tells Nevine El-Aref about his plans to develop and preserve Egypt's heritage -- including upping ticket prices for tourists After months of decision, indecision and counter- decision, Egypt's antiquities and monuments have got their own ministry back. The Ministry of State for Antiquities has been resuscitated to join the National Rescue Government (NRG) led by Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri. Since the start of last year's January Revolution, several ancient monuments and artefacts exhibited in Egypt's museums, storehouses and archaeological sites have suffered from negligence or worse. The prevailing chaos led to a lack of security all over the country, and robberies were commonplace. Meanwhile, the official body, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), then under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture, swung between a Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) and an independent SCA body affiliated to the cabinet. Finally, when the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) established the NRG two months ago, Egypt's antiquities regained its ministry as the MSA. , chief of the Tourism Guiding English Department in the Faculty of Arts at Ain Shams University, was appointed to the post and became the second Minister of State for Antiquities, succeeding the better known archaeologist Zahi Hawass. Ibrahim is no stranger to the SCA or the MSA's archaeological stratum. Since graduating in archaeology from Cairo University he served for eight years in the SCA, where he was an antiquities inspector for the Abu Simbel temples, chief inspector of Edfu, Kom Ombo and Aswan monuments in Upper Egypt, and general director of the Saqqara district south of Cairo. In 1987 Ibrahim abandoned archaeological field work and moved to France, where he earned a diploma and doctorate in Egyptology from Lyons University. He also received a certificate in museum management from the American Information Centre in the United States. In addition to his academic work at Alexandria and Ain Shams universities, Ibrahim supervised the museological work and interior design of the planned Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) overlooking the Giza Plateau. The light panelled walls of Ibrahim's office are bare apart from two large brown curtains and enormous wooden bookshelves crammed with archaeological books and newsletters. Behind a large, elegant desk covered with papers and files, a smiling Ibrahim stood to welcome Al-Ahram Weekly. Ibrahim, while delighted at the new appointment, recognises that being the MSA's main man is a substantial burden. "I am now responsible for Egypt's treasured antiquities. Preserving this priceless heritage is no easy task," Ibrahim said. "I don't want to talk about what has happened in the past; my job is to embody a new vision and carry out an action plan to properly direct, develop, guard, protect and preserve them for eternity as well as upgrade the skills of the MSA staff and spruce up the efforts to resume archaeological projects now on hold." He explained that his first goal was to remodel the MSA Administrative Council, the ministry's mastermind and decision-maker, so as better to handle the current workload by adding new blood to its membership. That included not only MSA employees but also archaeologists, prominent figures in society and media people. Ibrahim pointed out that the media was a double-sided window that presented both the MSA's policies and its archaeological work to the public, while at the same time reflecting public opinions of its strategies. "Such remodelling would give the council new and innovative ideas and provide a cornerstone for an institutional system to implement independent archaeological work not personally linked to the minister," Ibrahim told the Weekly. "I mean to continue what previous ministers and secretary-generals of antiquities have achieved -- with a readjustment of their mistakes -- but not to start again from scratch by sweeping away the past. If I achieve such a goal I will have succeeded in my ministerial mission." He went on to say that there would be some restructuring of the ministry's scheme and echelon, and added that former MSA minister Hawass unfortunately did not have enough time for reform. The planned reforms will include the rescheduling of the SCA's mission and a decision on whether or not it will be part of the ministry. In the many changes of 2011 the MSA replaced the SCA, and vice versa. To ensure that the action plan Ibrahim has drawn up is properly executed, the minister has embarked on inspection tours of sites and museums all over the country, from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan. During his visits he met employees and listened to their problems, suggesting ways of improving such sites and also promising to meet the employees' demands. Such tours, he said, helped prove that Egypt was safe and would encourage tourists to come back and spend their holidays in Egypt. Over the coming couple of months the Suez National Museum and the Crocodile Museum in Kom Ombo are to open, as well as the first section of the Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor following development. Ibrahim will also be announcing the discovery of a new tomb on Luxor's west bank. Development will soon start on the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, and Ibrahim is hoping to expand the exhibition area to an adjoining building. Ibrahim also plans to ask the Cairo governor for the site of the National Party building, which was burnt down during the January Revolution and is located behind the Egyptian Museum. It is thought this land originally belonged to the MSA, and if possession cannot be verified Ibrahim will ask for it since it lies within the museum's safe zoning area and the building is considered unsafe as it could collapse at any time. "The burnt building... would be another tourist attraction, like the Berlin Wall," Ibrahim said. He said it was part of history, and preserving some of the walls could help tell the story of the 2011 revolution. "I want to do several things in a very short time and prove to the public that this ministry is working so hard to preserve the nation's heritage," Ibrahim said. However, he told the Weekly that the lack of funding and losses in the tourism sector were a blow to the immediate implementation of his plans. The lack of finance was the most critical problem the ministry is facing. Ibrahim said the ministry was in debt to the tune of more than LE1 billion to construction companies in charge of restoration and development projects, in addition to a LE350-million sovereign loan given by the government to the ministry to aid its financial recovery. It was good luck, he said, that the budget of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) were provided by UNESCO and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The MSA is a self-financing ministry with its budget deriving from accrued income from sales of tickets to museums and archaeological sites. Ibrahim is planning to tackle the problem by imposing a new entrance fee for the monuments in Al-Muezz Street in Mediaeval Cairo, especially now that security guards and police have returned there -- and to archaeological sites and museums all over the country. The income from these new charges, which will be LE100 for a foreigner for each of the monuments on the street and LE1 per monument for an Egyptian, will be used to restore and maintain the Islamic monuments. New ticketing would also be applied on the Fotouh Gate on Mediaeval Cairo's north wall, the Nasser Mohamed Quranic School, the complexes of both Barqouq and Qalawun as well as the Inal Bath, the Kameliya School, the Khesru sabil (water fountain), the Salehiya Dome and Bashtak Palace. Ibrahim also plans to allocate LE2.5 million of the grant offered by the organisers of the Tutankhamun exhibition in Japan for excavations in Luxor to provide a suitable medical care project for the ministry's staff. "Junior archaeologists and temporary staff are on the top of my priorities," Ibrahim said. He has promised to appoint the MSA's 16,600 temporary employees in four phases, the last one concluding at the end of 2012. Meanwhile, a third of 6,000 fresh graduates are to be appointed to the ministry according to a scheduled timetable. According to an advertisement published in both Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar daily newspapers, all the MSA's temporary employees are required to submit their official papers to the MSA registrar in order that they can be appointed subsequently. "The MSA is the home and a welcoming work place for all graduates of the Faculty of Archaeology," Ibrahim said, adding that in the future he would collaborate with the Ministry of Education in an attempt to develop student skills in accordance with professional field requirements. For example, if the MSA needed to appoint more restorers, the faculty should encourage its students to apply to the restoration department for scholarships or training abroad. Despite all the efforts to protect Egypt's ancient monuments, some fear the intervention of the radical Islamic movement -- especially after the gains by Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi candidates in the national parliamentary elections. The movement is seen as a threat to ancient Egyptian art since they could conceivably call for the disfiguration of ancient Egyptian statues or prevent tourists from coming to Egypt unless they followed their customs and traditions. Salafis recently covered a decorative naked statue of a mermaid exhibited in Silsila in Downtown Alexandria. "Never, ever can a Salafi or any other threaten an ancient Egyptian monument, since it is part of their Egyptian identity," Ibrahim told the Weekly with an ironic smile. "The Egyptian people are a peaceful nation by nature, and all these are exaggerated rumours. All Egyptians, whatever their faith, believe in God and well know the importance of their ancient heritage. The Quran calls on all Muslims to understand and admire the universe in order to know God and believe in him, as well as to learn the lessons of our ancestors." If Islam were a threat to antiquities and the monuments, the Arab military commander Amr Ibn Al-Aas would have been the first to destroy the ancient Egyptian temples and tombs when he conquered Egypt in 640 AD, Ibrahim said. Asked whether he would continue the policy of sending ancient Egyptian exhibitions abroad, Ibrahim said such exhibitions were good ambassadors of Egypt and its civilisation and encouraged people to visit the country. Ibrahim said he was totally behind such a policy, but would change the administration procedures for selecting and shipping artefacts. He added that Egypt's antiquities laws also regulated the process. And how does he feel about private visits to archaeological sites, especially since they provide the MSA treasury with a much-needed income? What did he make of the fuss about the celebration that was meant to be held on 11/11/2011? "Antiquities cannot be politicised," Ibrahim said. So will the MSA continue to collaborate with foreign excavation expeditions? "I cannot stop them from working in Egypt. This is their only working place to practise Egyptology, but I will profit more from them by asking them to teach more archaeologists in the field of excavation, restoration and museology." The MSA has already started to take steps to protect the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square from the type of damage that occurred during the first week of the January uprising. The National Geographic Society building neighbouring the burnt-out Egypt Science Institute has now been completely secured, as has the Egyptian Museum itself. All the windows and iron gates of both buildings have been covered with strong aluminium sheeting. "I am really very optimistic and I feel that more can be implemented to develop and protect Egypt's heritage, but we need to be patient," Ibrahim said.
