I am very proud that since I took office as the Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, I have been able to bring the concept of site management to Egypt for the first time. We are now implementing comprehensive, long-term programs all over the country, combining historic preservation with the construction of facilities that improve the experience of visitors to Egypt’s monuments.

In 2002, I initiated a full-scale effort to implement site management projects all over Egypt. I published the outlines of this plan in the proceedings of the Eight International Congress of Egyptolgists ("Site Management and Conservation," pages 48-61 in Egyptology at the Dawn of the 21st Century: Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo, 2000. Cairo: American Unversity in Cairo Press, 2003). We have concentrated our work on sites that are frequented by tourists, as mass tourism is one of the most serious threats to Egypt's tombs and temples. The main elements of the plan are:

1. Creating safe zones around archaeological sites to protect them from their outside surroundings and environmental threats. We have put this protective measure in place at sites including the Unfinished Obelisk Quarry in Aswan, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Saqqara, Pompey's Pillar in Alexandria, and Kom El-Dikka. We are currenlty working to do so in many other locations, inlcuding Tell Basta and San El-Hagar in the Delta and Marina, to the west of Alexandria.
2. Building visitors' centers to introduce the sites to tourists. We have finished visitors' centers for a number of sites, including the Unfinished Obelisk Quarry, Edfu, Deir El-Bahari, and the Valley of the Kings.
3. Creating access routes to keep tourists away from the walls of monuments and other fragile areas of sites.
4. Building facilities for tourists, including bazaars, cafeterias, and restrooms.
5. Perhaps most importantly, we are putting coprehensive conservations plans in place for the sites, and working to ensure that we have highly trained specialists working in conservation and site management all over Egypt. We are educating our personnel on how to go about the day-to-day business of administering and preserving our monuments.

The most important example of the success of such conservation plans is the temple of Hathor at Dendera. For the first time, the site is truly protected. We have also built wonderful tourist facilities there, including a visitors’ center that shows a nice introductory film. Most importantly, we have created a conservation plan for the temple. We are in the process of cleaning the interior decoration, and I can say that the work that has been done so far is truly amazing. I am so happy to see many talented young Egyptians working on the conservation of this temple, and I am putting these photos up to show the results of their work. My favorite scene in the temple is the one that shows many gods in front of the wedjat or eye of Horus, which may represent the moon.

Another site where we have begun implementing the principles of site management is the great Citadel in Cairo. The Citadel is a site of great importance. It can be said that it is the Great Pyramid of the Islamic world. For this reason, we are working now on an important project to conserve and protect the mosque of Mohamed Ali at the Citadel. We are cleaning and restoring the mosque’s dome, and installing new lighting throughout the area. Along with the historic Egyptian Museum, which is currently undergoing extensive renovations, the Citadel will be one of two great spotlights in Cairo showing the glory of Egypt’s pharaonic and Islamic civilization.