Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum

By: Ali Abu-Dashish 

CAIRO, Dec. 31 (SEE)- In 2018, the Bibliotheca Alexandria Antiquities Museum has taken steady steps towards achieving excellence. It has organized several successful events, and participated with other parties inside and outside the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The following reports sheds light on some of the major milestones achieved throughout the year.

Wall of Knowledge Project

The Bibliotheca Alexandria, Antiquities Museum in cooperation with the Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTANT) launches the Wall of knowledge featuring The Book of the Dead: The Papyrus of Ani at the Afterlife Section. The wall of knowledge project is an Augmented Reality (AR) mobile application developed by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina to increase public engagement with Egyptian art and heritage inside museums using smart phones and tablets.

Wall of Knowledge Project

Curator Unit ..The treatment of artifacts

In the context of interest in modern museum display methods carefully change museum display scenario inside the Museum; we displayed the Head of Alexander the great (BAAM 223) in the beginning of the Greco- Roman section, also the statue of Ptah (BAAM 593).

Our Unit interests’ conservation of archaeology within the museum, we had worked on the restoration and conservation in range of 30 archaeological pieces had done, and we organized a registration of the archaeology’s condition before and after the restoration by the photograph photos. Nowadays we are working on the restoration of El-Ras El-Soda collection beside other pieces.

reatment of artifacts

In some cases, we Follow some maintenance work in the museum which concerning the showcases. It is important to know the environment around sensitive archaeology like the mummies, so we put the data logger device inside the showcase of the roman mummy to record the range of temperature and humidity degree inside the showcase to adjust the convenient degree for more safe condition. According to the role of security to protect the museum, we cooperate with the Engineering Sector to check the alarms of the showcases and the museum’s doors. Our interest in the archaeology’s field expanded outside the museum, we arranged a committee was held to hand over the statue of Ptolemy II (in the front of the library), the statue examined and it was recorded in the museum's general register, and we are going to restore and protect the statue soon cooperated with the Engineering Sector.

reatment of artifacts

Organizational aspect of work:

In this title, which regards the daily work, the Curators opening and closing the museum according to a weekly regular schedule, and watching the work in the shifts.

other organizational field which important for managing the database of the museum, and for the dealing with the Minister of archaeology, we scanned the original official records of the museum in high quality to make a digital copies, and sorting them in different categories then we have saved the scanned digital copies on the shared folder of museum which on the network to organize the access of these digital original records, and it is easier to deliver.

aspect of work

The participation of the cultural events and special activities:

It so nice to recognize the cultural role of the museum, Consequently the Unit tried to keep up this role via Explaining the museum to some Delegations and visitors cooperate with the need of tour guide Unit, summarizing some books on the archaeological field, rewriting some labels which describing information about the archaeology. There are some things that serve the humanitarian side making a collection of some painting tablets for the blind depicting some masterpieces in the museum, to develop of archaeological awareness among the blind, in the future We are going to translate the films presented in the museum to the blind by audio description. The unit likes to help in the various events, which directed to the society through participation of the "Horus" event at Antoniadis Palace, participate in the preparation of “Names” events, organized by the Library, and Participate in a workshop about “numbers in ancient Egyptian languages”.

Website Unit

The BA Antiquities Museum Website Unit is mainly concerned with the documentation of the museum collections and all related conservation processes. During 2018, the conservation process of about 50 artifacts was documented in great detail with an output of 1500 hi-resolution photos. A restoration photo archive was also created for the curators; it contains all pre- and post-restoration shots. It is worth mentioning that hi-resolution photographs is, nowadays, considered as a powerful tool which assists conservation specialists in preparing a minute restoration plan for each artifact thanks to the high detail they provide.

During the current year, the Unit has also reviewed the photo archive of the entire museum, and updated the photos of about 35 artifacts taken with state-of-the-art professional equipment. The new photos supplanted the old low-quality scanned negatives which were originally taken by 36 mm film cameras.

The Unit team is also keen on documenting all the events that are organized by the BA Antiquities Museum or happening in its premises; 89 events and activities for the year 2018 are well presented in our archive with around 3000 photographs. These can be easily accessed and searched for thanks to a well-studied documentation process and a simple file retrieving system.

Preventive conservation has, no doubt, become lately a main concern for museum specialists. When it comes to fragile archaeological artifacts, the less the contact the object, the better. In that respect, the documentation team of the Website Unit is enriching the museum collection of digital assets with RTI (reflectance transformation imaging) digital files. RTI is a computational photographic method that captures a subject’s surface shape and color and enables the interactive re-lighting of the subject from any direction. RTI also permits the mathematical enhancement of the subject’s surface shape and color attributes. The enhancement functions of RTI reveal surface information that is not disclosed under direct empirical examination of the physical object. Today, around 65% of the museum collection of numismatics is documented by this highly efficient technique. The collection photographed so far includes Ptolemaic, Byzantine, Islamic and even some late 18th Century CE coins.

Another main task of the team is the constant update of the BA Museum website. Our website is, in fact, the first in Egypt to give access to the entire museum collection for online users; an initiative reflecting the message of Bibliotheca Alexandrina which aims to provide easy access to knowledge for all. The website is available in Arabic, English and French. In 2018, around 100 new and updated photographs for around 66 artifacts can be additionally admired by researchers and Egyptology enthusiasts on the online database of our website. New hi-resolution panoramic views of the museum halls were also made available to reflect the changes in display which occurred lately. In addition, 54 essays on the museum masterpieces were translated into French. Furthermore, in 2018, around 30 events (lectures by eminent speakers, exhibitions, etc.) were announced on the Events page of the BA Museum website in order to reach the widest possible target audience.

Education Program activities for the year 2018:

The Education Program of the BA Antiquities Museum has welcomed in 2018 more than 35 children from May to September. The program included a series of different workshops aiming to raise the awareness of the young generation and to develop their artistic skills.

Participants were first introduced to the museum collections by specialized guides who did their best to convey historical and artistic information in a simple and interesting manner. The children then picked an archaeological item of their choice and made a reproduction of it from their own creative perspective. To that end, they applied different techniques and used a variety of materials which included, among others, glass, cork, leather clay, copper sheets. The artistic workshop is supervised by the museum art instructor who teaches children how to deal with such a multitude of materials, while teaching them all along the fundamental guidelines for sketching, drawing and painting. A visit to other art exhibitions of the BA was also arranged for our young artists in order to promote their general sense of appreciation for the different disciplines of art.

Education Program

Many art workshops were also planned, in cooperation with other units of departments of the BA, for a different and wider public such as the “International Museum Day” which took place on 20 May, “A day for Alexandria” in July and the “International Children Day” on 18 November. Other activities like the Festivity of Harpocrates at Antoniades Palace on 8 August targeted the less privileged, such as children from child shelters. The mentally challenged were, in addition, among the target audience for our activities; in that respect a special education and art program was designed for the children with special needs of the Egyptian-Swedish Association “Yaraani” to fulfill their needs and meet the interests. The latter program has started in 2017 and is still ongoing.

Tour Guide Unit

The Tour Guide Unit has done several achievements throughout 2018. Firstly, it arranged guided tours with detailed description for groups and VIP visits in 6 different languages. It has received 234 visits from schools, 81 visits from universities, 568 VIP tours, as well as 1813 fixed tours. To meet the rising numbers of esteemed visitors, the Unit has recruited and trained more volunteers.

It has also collaborated with different BA Departments to organize different events, including but not limited to "A Day in Love of Alexandria", “International Museums day”, and “Treasure Hunt Competition”.

The Unit has also carried on with its initiative “Antiquities Museum Outreach Activities”, as it organized visits targeting governmental primary schools and Orphans Shelters.

Last but not least, the Unit has added new options in the Antiquities Museum visits system, which was the best solution to achieve the goals. This option informs the heads of shifts and the guide in charge by sending an email to them with the visits’ description for Friday and Saturday.

Publishing Unit

The publishing unit main responsibility is the style and the content of all publications affiliated to the Antiquities Museum that includes catalogues, posters, banners, archiving and processing news through Media, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Antiquities Museum websites and Social Media. However, it targets the entire content of a publication.

This unit coordinates with the Educational and Promotional Publications Unit within the Cultural Outreach sector, as the latter is the one responsible for proofreading and translating the work issued by the Museum Publication Unit. In addition, the Museum Publication Unit coordinates with other BA parties in charge of copyright and scientific reviewing. Following up with 43-revision task, 38 translation request, 49 printing and 40-design request during 2018.

Publishing Unit

The unit also is responsible for organizing some cultural events, such as 27 lectures (for example: The History and Restoration of the Mawlawy Architectural Complex in Cairo, Scenes Inscribed on the Pillars of New Kingdom Nobel Tombs in Thebes, Excavations from the Egyptian Military History: The Eastern Gateway of Egypt, and Cultural and Educational Life in Light of Discovered Papyrus Texts in Al-Bahnasa during the Roman Period), 6 events (for example: The Temple for Millions of Years of Amenhotep III at Thebes: Twenty Years of Work, The Islamic Art Museum’s Lens, and Yesterday ‒ Tomorrow: a Work in Aspective Realism) and 2 seminars held by the Antiquities Museum during 2018 (for example: Rescuing the Ras el-Soda Temple: between the Past and Present and Cultural Forum 2018 - Our Archaeological Heritage: A Vision for the Future “Alexandria and Its Cultural Treasures).

The Unit has also published two papers on ‘Egyptology website’ of Bibliotheca Alexandrina tapped: “Researches of Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum”.