Abdel Dayem Follows up Mahmoud Khalil Museum Rehabilitation

Ali Abu Dashish

Dr. Enas Abdel Dayem, Minister of Culture, continued the work of developing and rehabilitating "Muhammad Mahmoud Khalil Museum and his wife" that is affiliated to the plastic Arts Sector headed by Dr. Khaled Sorour.

The museum has been closed for more than 10 years.

Abdel Dayem said that the development of the artistic and national museums comes as part of enriching the cultural structure in Egypt, believing in the value of creativity in building personality as well as consolidating national identity and documenting Egypt's national collective memory and human civilization.

Abdel Dayem praised the level of development with its: technological systems, museum display scenario and the means of insurance.

Abdel Dayem stressed the need to finish the work on time to restart one of the Egyptian cultural icon .

On his part, Sorour explained that the museum has been closed since 2010 and the development work began in 2014 including: all the regular work, construction treatments such as air conditioning and ventilation networks, electricity and water system, firefighting and fire systems development, updating security and monitoring systems, updating the museum equipment as a whole and updating the museum display scenario.

It is worth mentioning that Muhammad Mahmoud Khalil Museum and his campus were built as a residence for the Egyptian politician Muhammad Mahmoud Khalil in 1920, built in the French style consisting of four floors.

The museum has a total area of 8450 square meters, its buildings area is 538.25 square meters, and the surrounding area is 7911.75 square meters.

After the death of its owner in 1953, he recommended these holdings to be given to his wife to be transferred to a museum affiliated to the Egyptian government after her departure.

The museum includes; 304 Oil, water , bronze and pastel paintings, number of bronze, marble and gypsum statues- about 50 statues, in addition to a group of works by the greatest artists of the nineteenth century.

The building also includes service areas, a garden, storage, and administrative rooms

[caption id="attachment_201158" align="alignnone" width="720"] Abdel Dayem Follows up Mahmoud Khalil Museum Rehabilitation[/caption]