Cairo: Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi on Wednesday reopened the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo three years after it was badly damaged in a bomb attack.
The 113-year-old building of the museum and its 179 artefacts were badly damaged after a car bomb targeted the adjacent police headquarters on January 24, 2014. Some 169 artefacts were restored, while the rest were destroyed beyond repair.
The museum, set up in 1903, is home to a large collection of artefacts from different Islamic eras and from around the world.
They include coins, textiles, woodwork, glass, copper as well as ceramic pieces and ancient weaponry.
A 14th century decorative lamp made of copper and inlaid with silver and gold.
“After more than two years of [restoration] work, the Museum of Islamic Art has returned and is more wonderful than before,” the minister of antiquities said while addressing the reopening ceremony.
“This is the world’s biggest museum of Islamic art with around 100,000 artefacts. It is the main reference to Islamic art,” he added.
The UAE provided 50 million Egyptian pounds (Dh10 million) for the restoration of the two-storey museum, according to Egyptian officials. The Unesco gave $100,000 for the same purpose.
No official figures on the overall cost of restoration have been released.
“I feel as if I am dreaming,” said Ahmad Al Shawki, the curator of the museum located in the Bab Al Khaleq area of Cairo.
“The condition of the museum after the terrorist attack was very bad,” he told the opening ceremony. “Now that the museum is even better than before, the credit should go to the team involved in the restoration work.”
A decorated dish from the 11th century Fatimid period.(AFP)
Experts from Egypt, Italy, Germany and the United States participated in restoring the museum that now displays 4,400 items compared to around 1,500 in 2014.
They are on show in 25 halls. The restoration process included installation of the state-of-the-art security and lightning systems.
The museum will be open to the public free of charge for a week, starting from Friday, according to its managers.
Egypt is seeking to revive its tourism industry, which used to be a main source of the country’s revenues. The tourism industry has been hit hard after the 2011 uprising and terrorist attacks unleashed since the army’s 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohamad Mursi.
