Culture Minister Farouk Hosni approved the Supreme Council of Antiquities’ (SCA) request to establish a museum for the revolution of July 1953 in Egypt. This will be the first ever museum for the revolution, and will be installed in the building used by the revolution’s leadership in Al-Gezirah on Zamalek Island.

I am pleased that the five paintings from the tomb of Tetiky have been returned to Egypt from the Louvre Museum.

A meeting was held today at the offices of the Supreme Council of Antiquities between Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, and Dr. Friederike Seyfried, Director of the Aegyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin, to discuss the Bust of Nefertiti.

On Thursday, the Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, and the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Dr. Zahi Hawass, witnessed the extraction of a red granite tower, originally part of a pylon, from the Mediterranean seabed at the archaeological site of Alexandria’s eastern harbor.

Many people who come to Egypt like to take pictures everywhere, to remember their visit. However, many people come into the Cairo Museum and take pictures with flash, even though there are signs everywhere saying no flash photography, which is to protect the objects.

The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun was mostly due to chance.  Howard Carter was looking around the Valley of the Kings and stumbled onto this tomb by accident. It remained hidden for centuries because, after it was entered three times by thieves shortly after it was cut, the guards of the cemetery sealed the tomb completely so no one else could enter.

A mission from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of Warsaw University unearthed a decorated clay vessel from a room in a monastic building at the Deir Malak Gubrail monastery in Naqlun, a site in the Fayum.

The 19^th century was a time of great discoveries in Egypt. However, at that time there were no standard methods of mapping and recording sites, so important things were lost. Excavators would record that they found a tomb, but not describe the exact location, so later scholars would not be able to find them easily. A good example of this is found at Dashur, the pyramid site just south of Saqqara.

There are many beautiful objects in the Cairo Museum, and some of my favorites are in the collection of King Tutankhamun.  If you visit the Cairo Museum, be sure to look at Tutankamun’s golden mask.

This mask is a masterpiece of art that I believe could never be repeated in history.  The details of the face are beautiful, the eyes are incredible.  This mask was crafted carefully out of gold, glass and lapis lazuli to be the face of the boy king for eternity.

I recently returned from a week in the Dominican Republic, where I was invited by President Fernandez. I attended a Film Festival with my friend Omar Sharif and also received an honorary doctorate degree from the Catholic University.