On Saturday, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities launched a project of restoring and documenting architectural sketches and maps at the Center of Documenting Islamic Antiquities, located in Saladin Citadel.
The project targets preserving the center’s artifacts such as Al-Rifa’i Mosque architectural sketches, and the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali restoration sketches.
Dr. Osama Talat, the head of the Islamic, Coptic, Jewish Archaeology sector, explained that the project is funded by the German Henkel Foundation in cooperation with the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation.
He added that a number of restoration experts from the Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, the Coptic Museum, and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization had participated in the project.
The activities of the project began after permission was released by the permanent committee of the Islamic, Coptic, Jewish Archaeology department at the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Moreover, he asserted that the project aims to train a number of the center’s personnel for the process of documentation and fast restoration process for drawings.
The project is part of the ministry’s plan to preserve the tangible heritage of Egypt through setting up a digital database of geometric drawings, and historic maps, alongside forming an index for drawings to be more accessible to researchers.
Contributed by: Rana Atef
