Antiquities sign MoU with Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation to rediscover manuscripts and papyri in Egyptian museums

By Nasr Salama

Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), and Dr. Frederica Zeifried, Director of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the SCA and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) to rediscover manuscripts and papyri in Egypt’s antiquities museums

During the signing ceremony, Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled expressed his happiness with the signing of this memorandum, which will contribute to the preservation of ancient Egyptian papyri and manuscripts stored or displayed in all museums of the Council, as they are considered endangered materials, in addition to the scientific publication of them in order to rediscover the secrets of ancient Egyptian history and benefit scientific research in the field of Egyptology
The memorandum includes the recording, documentation, archiving, classification and digital imaging of papyri and manuscripts, in addition to organizing a number of training courses and workshops in Egypt and Germany for conservators and museum curators working at the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the fields of papyrus conservation and study, to train on modern methods of museum display of papyri, detection of folded papyri and reading scrolls that are difficult to unfold and their content using tomography and in cooperation with the Egyptian Academy for Scientific Research and Technology (EASRT). This is in addition to restoring 400 artifacts from the museums’ holdings and another 100 artifacts from various museum stores affiliated with the council and transporting them for display in the museums
At the end of the project, a number of internal exhibitions and joint international scientific conferences will be organized for the restored papyri
For her part, Dr. Frederica Zeifried thanked the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, represented by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, for the great support of the German side in the field of archaeological work, whether projects or scientific missions working in various archaeological sites, which contributes to the optimal completion of the work, expressing her hopes that the coming period will witness more fruitful and constructive cooperation in other areas of archaeological work