Symposium: “Grand Egyptian Museum Now: Preserving the Treasures of the Pharaohs 2023”
Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) was entrusted with an opening support project for the Grand Egyptian Museum by JICA from 2008 to 2016, and conducted seminars on capacity development and technical instruction for the conservation of museum collections.
In this context, we organized a symposium titled “Grand Egyptian Museum Now: Preserving the Treasures of the Pharaohs 2023,” which aimed to widely release the opening support projects conducted by the Japanese mission, including our entrusted project, ahead of Museum opening. This symposium was co-organized by the Grand Egyptian Museum and JICA on August 6, 2023 at the Heiseikan Auditorium in Tokyo National Museum. We invited both Mr. Atef Moftah, the general supervisor of Grand Egyptian Museum Project and Surrounding Area, and Mr. Eissa Zidan, the general manager of the first aid conservation and transportation of the artifacts, to this symposium.
The Grand Egyptian Museum, which is located next to the Great Pyramids area, is attracting attention before its opening as the largest museum in the world exhibiting collections from a single civilization. In the symposium, Mr. Moftah gave the keynote lecture and introduced the whole museum and the Tutankhamun collection room. Following that, Prof. YOSHIMURA Sakuji, the president of Higashi Nippon International University, and Mr. Zidan both made presentations on the latest outcomes on the second boat of Khufu, which the Japanese mission is currently restoring for display in the annex building. Additionally, the researchers responsible for the conservation of Tutankhamun’s objects presented their results, and a panel discussion was held on the theme of expectations for the Grand Egyptian Museum.
This symposium became a great opportunity to showcase the achievement of international cooperation to date, because we not only introduced the situation of the museum before the opening, but also all of the Japanese support in one place. Contents of the symposium will be released on the TOBUNKEN home page soon.