US, Egypt Launch Historic Project to Enhance Museum Documentation, Cultural Heritage Preservation

U.S. Embassy in Cairo is proud to partner with the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) to support the implementation of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities’ (MoTA) Central Information System: Data Rescue, Training and Needs Assessment Project. 

On September 17, 2024, U.S. Ambassador Herro Mustafa Garg joined Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Yomna El-Bahar, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Rafik Mansour, and ARCE Executive Director Dr. Louise Bertini to commemorate this project’s historic launch.

The U.S. government’s Cultural Property Implementation Grant (CPAIG) is made possible through the U.S.-Egypt Cultural Property Protection Memorandum of Understanding, which was initially signed in 2016 and reaffirmed in 2021. 

The grant will increase the professional capacity of Egyptian museum staff in the areas of documentation and collections management, as well as information technology.

 It will also lay the groundwork for a centralized documentation and collections management system that can bring together objects in different MoTA museums through a one-search interface, thus guaranteeing the proper tracking and documentation of artifacts.

The project will be implemented at various historical museums across Greater Cairo: the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (EMC), the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the Coptic Museum, the Museum of Islamic Art, and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC).

During the program’s launch ceremony, held at the Coptic Museum in Cairo, U.S. Ambassador Herro Mustafa Garg highlighted the importance of preserving culture and history for future generations. “This partnership is not only about preserving the past; it is also about shaping a future where the cultural richness of Egypt continues to thrive,” Ambassador Mustafa Garg said. “We look forward to continuing to partner with the Egyptian people and the Egyptian government to ensure that Egypt’s rich cultural heritage is preserved and protected for centuries to come.”

In her remarks, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Yomna El-Bahar, conveyed greetings and appreciation for all the support from H.E. Minister of Tourism and Antiquities. She also expressed delight in partaking in the launch of this important project related to one of the Ministry’s most important strategic framework dossiers. The central system database has for aim to ensure that museum collections will be interconnected, and data will be unified, in the interest of protecting artifacts and cultural heritage under the best practices of museum management.

At the end of her speech, El-Bahar praised Egypt’s enduring cooperation with the U.S. government in projects related to preserving cultural heritage, as evidenced by numerous collaborations in project implementation. The latest of which was the conservation and renovation of monuments in Historic Cairo within the Integrated Tourism Management Project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“This project falls under the Ministry’s current process of implementing a comprehensive program to open new museums, and track their collections, throughout Cairo. The Ministry will then aim to expand the project to Egyptian museums nationwide. Under an improved information technological framework, having a stronger collections management system would strengthen our capacity to document, monitor and track all artifacts. Museums are scientific institutions, and one of the Ministry’s goals is to ensure their sustainability and efficiency in the long term,” stated Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mohamed Ismail Khaled.

“ARCE is very pleased to partner with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on this very important project to upgrade the Egyptian Museum database and help them assess the feasibility of a central museum database,” said Dr. Louise Bertini, Executive Director of ARCE. “Our continued collaboration with the Egyptian government contributes to the shared goal of cultural heritage preservation and advancing research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture.”

The U.S. government has invested over $140 million in cultural heritage preservation efforts in Egypt over the past 30 years, including more than $75 million through the United States Agency for International Development for projects implemented by ARCE, with work continuing in Sohag and Luxor. The U.S. government has also allocated more than $3.5 million through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) for 17 projects in Egypt, including two current restoration and preservation projects: Takiyyat Ibrahim al-Gulshani and the Mausoleum of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo will solicit applications for additional sites in Egypt to be considered for funding through the 2024 Cultural Property Agreement Implementation Grant this November.