"Egypt Sunken Secrets" exhibition will be touring 3 European capitals

The ministry of antiquities agreed to hold an antiquities exhibition named “Egypt’ Sunken Secrets” in 3 European capitals for a year.  

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The ministry agreed to an offer by Franck Goddio, founder of the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology to hold this exhibition for 600 thousand Euros plus 1 euro on each ticket after the first 100 thousand visitors 

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The exhibition will display 293 artefacts were chosen from different Egyptian museums. 18 from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, 22 from the Graeco-roman museum, 31 from Alexandria National museum, 15 from Bibliotheca Alexandrina museum and 207 artefacts from the Sunken monuments department.

First stop for the exhibition will be in the Arab World Institute in Paris between 7th of September 2015 till 7th of January 2016 then it moves to Berlin from 15th of April till 15th of August 2016 and last stop in London from 15th of November 2016 until 15th of March 2017.

The exhibition is insured for 150 million Egyptian pounds.  

Napoleon sunken weapons discovered on the memory of his abdication

Dr. Mamdouh El Damaty, Minister of Antiquities and Heritage, announced the find of a group of antiquities weapons vary between guns and rifles dated back to 18th century and they were discovered under the Mediterranean Sea waters near the modern harbour of Alexandria. 

Today marks the date of Napoleon Bonaparte’s last abdication in 1815, after his defeat in Waterloo.

According to the minister, the weapons were discovered during the underwater survey by the Russian mission in cooperation with the Ministry of Antiquities in search for sunken ships and remains of submerged harbours in the area to the North and North West of Pharos Island including the Eastern harbour.

Dr. El Damaty added that the discovered weapons were probably on one of the French campaign ships known as “Patriot” which had sank entering Alexandria’s west harbour then.

This find will lead to more studies and underwater search for more antiquities to reveal more details on that era.

The discovered weapons were transferred directly to the restoration centre at the Grand Egyptian Museum in order to start restoration work to guarantee protecting them and display them probably in the future.

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Sunken monuments' Centre in Alexandria

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim (Minister State of Antiquities) was on a visit to Qaitbay Fortress in Alexandria yesterday to check on the ongoing work of development of the site to attract more visitors and concerning the holes in the fortress wall, the Minister said it is vital to protect the eastern side especially as it is exposed to sea waves and strong currents but any work on that side will conflict with the submerged monuments which will require to work on protecting both in a scientific method based on studies using the latest technologies to make barriers to protect the fortress and doesn’t affect the submerged monuments badly.

During his visit, the Minister announced the project of establishing a centre for marine and submerged monuments in Alexandria which is under ongoing studies at the moment. The centre will be at the site of the old Lighthouse by Qaitbay citadel and will include underwater museum and international training centre for restoration.