There is quite a number of news to report so let us start of with a personal one...

1. Past Preservers’ Casting Jobs Twitter: @PPCasting 

2. Pharaoh Khufu’s Boat brought to Grand Egyptian Museum

The man behind the world’s most renown pyramid will have his second solar boat brought over to the Grand Egyptian Museum “in preparation for restoration and reassembly”, said Issa Zeiden, the Museum’s Director of Restoration Department. 

337 of the 1,450 wooden pieces which make up the solar barge “have been examined, restored and transported to the GEM’s storerooms under the supervision of the General Administration of Tourism and Antiquities Police”, Zeiden said. He also adds that “the boat will be reassembled once all the pieces are transported” and the restoration process will be conducted by an Egyptian-Japanese team who will utilise modern technologies in hopes that the barge will be ready for display in 2017.

3. Tel El-Amarna Visitors Centre in Minya

Photo Courtesy of AhramOnline

With the intention of promoting tourism in Egypt, specifically in Upper Egypt’s Minya, the Tel El-Amarna Visitors Centre was inaugurated today (21 March 2016) by the Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty. 

The centre will focus on the reign of Ancient Egypt’s rebellious pharaoh, Akhenaten, where it will display replicas of King Akhenaten’s tomb and “a collection of fully furnished palaces and houses of this distinguished era”.

For more information: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/44/193451/Heritage/Museums/Tel-AlAmarna-Visitors-Centre-in-Minya-opens.aspx

4. 8 Lion-Headed Goddesses found in the Temple of Amenhotep III at Luxor

Photo Courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

8 life-size statues of Sekhmet, the ancient Egyptian warrior goddesses, were found in the Temple of Amenhotep II.

Out of the eight, “three of the black granite statues are nearly complete, with the biggest representing the goddess sitting on a throne...three other partial statues also show the goddess in a seated posture on a throne, while two other statues (are) missing the heads and lower parts portray a standing Sekhmet figure”.

This wonderful discovery was made by the members of the Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project where a standing headless of of Amenhotep III had also been found. 

These 8 statues will be display for the public to visit in the temple once they have been cleaned, preserved and documented. 

5. #SaveSekhemka

The Egyptian statue originally housed in the Northampton Museum which went on to sell the statue for a whopping £15.76 million to an overseas buyer, continues to remain within the borders of England as its status remains uncertain. 

Nonetheless, the Egyptian embassy is seeking to raise funds to purchase its own cultural heritage for that equal whopping £15 million. However, the idea of repatriation has been opposed by the Save Sekhemka Action Group who say that this very act is unethical as the statue should not have been available for auction in the first place. Moreover, the Chairman of the Action Group added that “we also believe that a repurchase would send strong signals to other museums and institutions that selling a valuable artefact would be acceptable, since there would be the expectation that there will always be somebody who would stump up the cash to repurchase it”. 

Is it fair that the Egyptians have to pay for their own cultural relic to be returned home? 

That is all for us now, folks! Have a good week ahead and have a wonderful Spring or Autumn ahead!