Egyptian Museum, Baron Palace Join ICESCO Heritage List

Ali Abu Dashish

On Monday, the Heritage Committee of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) added the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, the city of Shali in Siwa Oasis, and the Baron Palace in Heliopolis district, to its list of tentative World Heritage sites.

This comes after the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities applied integrated files that touched on the archaeological and artistic dimensions of these sites.

On his part, Moustafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the registration of these sites comes within the Tourism and Antiquities's plan to highlight the country's archaeological sites and register them on the international heritage lists with a view to improving tourist attractions to these sites.

Notably, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s World Heritage Committee has added the Egyptian Museum to its list of tentative World Heritage sites.

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities applied to add the museum in February 2020.

Ministry official Abdel Mohsen Shafi’i stated that the ministry is keen to express the building’s importance to UNESCO, calling it a cultural beacon and part of Egyptian civilization.

The museum joins a number of Egyptian sites registered on the UNESCO tentative list, including sites in Minya, Ras Muhammad Reserve in South Sinai, the Nilometer in Rawda, the monasteries of the Western Desert, and the ancient Sinai castles.

Egypt has eight registered sites on the World Heritage List, which are: the Memphis region and its cemeteries, Thebes and its cemeteries, Nubia, Historic Cairo, Saint Catherine, Abu Mina Monastery, and Wadi El Hitan Reserve.

[caption id="attachment_251466" align="alignnone" width="1280"] the Baron Palace[/caption]