Antiquities Min. Inaugurates Tanta Museum

Basant ahmed

Minister of Antiquities Dr. Khaled Al-Anani headed to Al-Gharbia province, this morning, to inaugurate Tanta Archaeological Museum after 19 years of closure. The inauguration comes in the framework of the ministry's plan to renovate and reopen closed museums throughout the country.

Tanta Archaeological Museum, one of Egypt's regional museums, is of great importance to the province since it will create new tourist attractions, in addition to spreading the archaeological awareness.

The idea of establishing an archaeological museum in Tanta is one of the oldest projects aiming to establish regional museums in Egypt. In 1913; the city's municipal building was chosen to be the first archaeological museum in the province, but it was closed, while the antiquities were transferred to the entrance of the municipal cinema building in 1957.

On October 29, 1990, the museum was re-opened, but due to the problems faced by the building, it was closed again in 2000, while it continued to provide its cultural and educational services to the people of the province.

Engineer Waad Abou El Ela, head of the projects sector, said that the museum development work started in December 2017, including the renovation of the museum building, its structural treatment, changing wall paints, cleaning floors in addition to installation of two new showcases.

Elham Salah, head of the Museums Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities, explained that the museum's exhibiting scenario has changed. The museum includes a showcase to exhibit a collection of artifacts to its visitors.