My first stop was a brief visit to the National Museum of Alexandria to speak to the Director. This museum has been open for six years and houses many beautiful objects in excellent displays. There are objects spanning the history of Alexandria, from ancient times through to modern times, and even objects found during the recent underwater excavations. All tell the story of this wonderful city. The architecture of the museum itself is also very impressive, as it was built in the Italian style in 1926 as a palace. It subsequently became the American Consulate before being bought by the Ministry of Culture and converted into a museum.

My next stop was the site of the new Mosaic Museum. Until recently this area was a park built around the Temple of Ras el-Souda, but soon it will be home to many beautiful mosaics from all over Alexandria. I was attending the opening of the first phase of construction at the site, and, along with the Governor of Alexandria, laid the ceremonial first brick. A model was on display showing what the finished museum will look like. As well as displaying many mosaics, the museum will also have an area for open air performances. It is hoped that construction will be completed in a year and a half.

My next stop was the site of Pompey’s Pillar, where I unveiled a plaque celebrating the completion of our Site Management plan there. I then attended a talk about all of the changes that have been made to the site and then went to take a look at them myself with the Governor of Alexandria. The site has really been improved.

My third stop was the Jewelry Museum. This has been closed for many years now in order to conserve and renovate the building as it had fallen into a bad condition. The decoration inside is very ornate, and it used to be owned by a princess called Fatma Al-Zahra.  After the revolution the museum was taken for the Egyptian people and it was decided that the royal family’s jewelry, much of it dating from the time of Mohammed Ali, would be kept there. In 1986 it officially became a museum. Over time, however, the lovely paintings and decorations had become dulled and blackened, and I decided that it was time to restore the building to its former glory. Now the conservation and restoration is complete, and in a presentation inside I was shown just how much had changed; all the detailed paintings have been carefully restored and are alive again with colour, and the ornate floors shine in the light.

My final stop was the Graeco-Roman Museum. This is also currently closed as it is undergoing serious reconstruction. During the past two years we have been removing all of the artefacts from the site so that they can be safely stored in magazines. It was only after all of these objects had been removed and the museum was empty that we could start the renovation and construction. In two years time this will be the greatest Graeco-Roman Museum in the world, and will even have a conservation lab inside.