Egypt, UNESCO to Establish New Water Museum

Egypt is planning to establish a new museum to commemorate the country's historical irrigation legacy, in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The new museum will detail ancient and modern Egyptian civilization's relationship with water, tracing back past achievements in water management and documenting heritage structures and artifacts on the Nile River for restoration purposes.

Egypt's Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources indicates that the country is requesting UNESCO to help protect ancient irrigation structures and restore important archival records, such as books, maps, reports, and photographs.

Egypt's Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sewilam, has directed compiling a full list of all the historical assets and buildings of the ministry. The list will be followed by descriptive details and background information to serve as the foundation for a series of documentary films showcasing Egypt's irrigation heritage.

Currently, Egypt has the "Irrigation Museum" inside the city of Qanater El Khairiya in Qalyubia Governorate, inside the Nile Delta. This museum, being one of Egypt's earliest, was opened originally following the opening of the Delta Barrages in Mohamed Ali Pasha's reign in 1833.

Initially holding the barrages' models, it was later shifted to a new facility and reopened in 1957 as "Museum of the Revolution" to commemorate the 1952 July Revolution.

The museum was completely revamped and refurbished beginning in 2004 and reopened in November 2011. 

In 2020, it was officially renamed the "Irrigation Museum."

The new museum has been proposed to capitalize on this heritage by offering a more comprehensive and high-tech platform for showcasing Egypt's long history of association with the Nile and its ancient water management achievements.