Download - Newsletter of Egypt Tourism Feb 2012

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Page 1: Newsletter of Egypt Tourism Feb 2012

February . 2012 1

Egyptian Tourism Promotion AuthorityEGYPT THIS MONTH

Issue 32February 2012 www.egypt.travel

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ptThe Avenue of Sphinxes

An important event will take place in Luxor in March of this year with the official inauguration of the Avenue of Sphinxes. The Avenue which connects Luxor and Karnak temple, is one of the most important archaeological and religious routes in Luxor, and where the historical and religious festival - Opet Festival took place in ancient times. It marked the annual voyage of God Amun Ra, transferred from Karnak temple on a sacred boat to Luxor temple, where he visits his wife Goddess Mut.

The restoration project started nearly five years ago, It was built by King Nectanebo, who ruled Egypt during

THE MOST IMPORTANT RELIGIOUS AND HISTORICAL ROUTE OPENS IN MARCH

EGYPT THIS MONTH

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the 30th dynasty between 380-362 B.C. and replaced an older path, which dated back to the 18th dynasty – New Kingdom. The avenue measures around 2,700 meters long and 76 meters wide, and is lined with a large number of statues in the shape of sphinxes, (the body of a lion, and in that case, King Nectanebo’s features).

The project was preceded by a series of excavation work, during which workshops of clay pots, wine factories, a huge water cistern and several reliefs were unearthed. One of the reliefs bears the cartouche of Queen Cleopatra VII (51-30 BC). It was believed that Queen Cleopatra visited this Avenue during her Nile trip with Mark Anthony and implemented restoration work that was marked with her cartouche. Remains of Queen Hatshepsut’s chapels, which were reused by King Nectanebo I in the construction of sphinxes, have also been found. Queen Hatshepsut has recorded on her red chapel in Karnak temple that she built six chapels dedicated to the worship of God Amun Ra on this Avenue, denoting a mere religious importance to the Avenue.

The excavation and restoration work is a purely Egyptian initiative- a collaboration between the former Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and Luxor Government to revive the Avenue.

The SCA allocated a large amount of money to remove all encroachments around the area to make way for a complete view of the Avenue and compensate those who own houses and shops along the route, as well as for the excavations and restoration works.

In total, excavators unearthed more than 650 sphinxes out of the original 1350. The most preserved and nearly ready for the inauguration is the section behind the Luxor Heritage Center, or south of the road that leads to the airport, which has a little over 600 meters of the total Avenue. A descending ramp from the main road makes way down to the Avenue, where tourists can enjoy a leisurely walk back in history. Moreover, approximately another 200 meters of the total Avenue is currently complete and is located right in front of the Luxor temple. The remaining three sections are visible from the road level, but visitors cannot gain access to all of it yet, pending removal of any obstacles.

Singer’S tomb unearthed in egypt

Archaeologists have unearthed the 1,100-year-old tomb of a female singer in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, officials revealed.

It is the only tomb of a woman not related to the Ancient Egyptian royal families ever found there, said Mansour Boraik, the top government official for the antiquities ministry in the city of Luxor.

The coffin of the female singer is remarkably intact. The singer’s name, Nehmes Bastet, means “she was believed to be protected by the feline deity Bastet”. The tomb was found by accident, according to Elina Paulin-Grothe, field director for excavation at the Valley of the Kings with Switzerland’s University of Basel.

Archaeologists concluded from artefacts that she sang in Karnak Temple, one of the most famous and largest open-air sites from the Pharaonic era, accord-ing to evidence at the site.

The unearthing marks the 64th tomb to be discov-ered in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

Sheraton Cairo CLoSed For maJor renoVation

Starwood Hotels & Resorts & the owning company of Sheraton Cairo Hotel Towers & Casino currently closed as of 1 October 2011 to allow renovation works to be completed while ensuring an on time re-opening in the summer of 2012.

The renovation, which began in 2010, is considered one of the most comprehensive ever done within an operating property. The project includes 656 fully ren-ovated guest rooms, nine renovated restaurants and bars, a new entrance, new façade, fully-equipped business center, new ballrooms, health club and lobby. All public areas will continue to reflect the historical standing of the hotel as one of the city’s landmarks since its opening in 1970.

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On its façade are four grooves, the purpose of which is to house flags. The scenes on the façade are mainly offering scenes to the triad of Thebes - Amun, Mut and Khonsu presented by Panedjem of the 21st dynasty. The pylon escorts visitors to the temple’s precincts including a peristyle court, housing a number columns. The court makes way to a hypostyle hall with another series of columns. The temple ends with the sanctuary, which usually housed a statue for the chief God of the temple carried on a sacred boat. The sanctuary is surrounded by side halls and visitors could come across a stairway leading to the temple’s roof. The scenes on the different walls of the temples are mainly religious ones, showing different Kings idolizing and making offerings to the chief God of the temple, and other Gods and Goddesses as well.

Khonsu TempleWhile visitors are at the Avenue of the Sphinxes, they will

be able to also visit the Khonsu Temple. It is positioned at the southwest corner of the confines of the Karnak temple complex in Luxor and is dedicated to the moon God Khonsu, who was the son of Amun and Mut, and together they form a triad, which is a group of three worshipped in Karnak. The earliest construction of the temple dated to the reign of King Ramses III – 20th dynasty, New Kingdom, and was followed by other kings. On the walls of the temple are also the pictures of other different kings all the way up to the Ptolemaic area.

The temple is currently undergoing a restoration phase, (one of the initiatives of the American Research Center in Egypt), and will hopefully be opened during the month of March as well. Nevertheless, at the moment visitors can still gain easy access to the temple, wonder its halls and marvel at the colorful decorations after the restoration, and compare them with others that have not been restored yet.

The temple’s entrance façade or the so called pylon, is preceded by an avenue of sphinxes, which dates back to the reign of King Amenhotep III – New Kindgom, and is connected to the main Avenue of the Sphinxes. The Pylon is in the form of two towers, measuring around 32 meters in length, 18 meters in height and around 10 meters in width.

the egyptian paViLion at the Stuttgart hoLiday eXhibition 2012 aWarded “beSt diSpLay

paViLLion”The CMT Stuttgart Holiday Exhibition is one of the

leading events related to tourism held at the begin-ning of each year. The Egyptian Tourism Office in Frankfurt took part in this event with a 50m² booth, and in the Stuttgart Golf & Wellness Holiday exhibition with a 30m² booth.

The CMT Stuttgart Holiday Exhibition includes more than 1900 exhibitors from 96 countries and received this year around 250,000 visitors to discover unique travel experiences in Europe and interact with the leading experts from the related field.

The participation of Egypt in this exhibition was preceded by organized trips by the Egyptian Tourism office in five of the major German cities; Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Koln with intensive advertising campaigns in major German newspapers and magazines specialized in tourism and travel, and the participation of professionals and exhibitors to demonstrate the most popular Egyptian destinations for Germans, including El Gouna Red Sea, Port Ghalib and Soma Bay Resorts. Two hundred touristic offices participated in the event.

Egypt’s booth allocated a round table for each exhibitor and presentations were made on tourism in Egypt, focusing on the beaches and re-boosting cultural tourism. The event aimed to increase the travel agents’ awareness in regard to Egypt’s natural potential and components, including activities such as golf, desert trips, oases and health tourism.

The Egyptian Tourism Authority will be organizing several events both in Egypt and Germany, to pro-mote Egypt as a key partner of ITB which is to be held in March 2012, including organizing a press confer-ence in Luxor to announce the event to 300 German Travel agents with the presence of media specialists, on online booking technologies, marketing and sales and tourism products.

CroCodiLe muSeum to open in aSWan neXt month

The first “Museum of Crocodiles” is opened last month in front of the Temple of Kom Ombo in Aswan, coinciding with Aswan’s National Day.

The museum will display a collection of mummi-fied crocodiles, and statues of the god Sobek , the crocodile god, as the Ancient Egyptian worshipped him believing that he was the creator of the world who arose from the “Dark Water”. For that reason they built the temples in Kom Ombo, Esna, Fayoum and in other areas.

A total of twenty two mummified crocodiles of vari-ous sizes: from the smallest, 1.5 metres long, to the real giants of almost five metres of length will be exhibited.

The display shows the crocodiles in its natural envi-ronment, as well as another display of a burial place for the crocodiles, showing how they were mummi-fied and buried, eyes and teeth from gold and ivory that replaced the crocodile’s own after its death, as well as coffins from clay and an altar where the crocodiles were placed for worship.

In the museum, visitors will also view twenty statues and plaques on the worshipping of the crocodiles including the god Sobek.

The museum is considered one of the largest in the world for crocodiles and is located in an area where most cruise ships pass and stop overnight in Kom Ombo.

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as well as coffins from clay and an altar where the crocodiles were placed for worship.

In the museum, visitors will also view twenty statues and plaques on the worshipping of the crocodiles including the god

The museum is considered one of the largest in the world for crocodiles and is located in an area where most cruise ships pass and stop overnight in Kom

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Tomb of King MereneptahAnother site visitors can see is the tomb of King Merenptah

that is located in the Valley of the Kings and carries number KV 8. The king was one of the sons of the eminent King Ramses II. The tomb was initially discovered by Lepsius, but was completely excavated by Howard Carter in 1903. It was not in a good state of preservation, and has been closed for complete restoration and is scheduled to reopen during the month of March as well, in light of the official opening of the Avenue of the Sphinxes.

grand egyptian muSeum to open auguSt 2015

Egypt’s Antiquities Minister announced the start of the final phase of construction at the Grand Egyptian Museum, scheduled for inauguration in 2015.

The new museum is being built on the Cairo-Alexandria Road, overlooking the Giza Pyramids. Ali said that the project will cost LE5 billion, adding that the Japanese government had provided a large part of the funding as a soft loan to be repaid within ten years of inauguration.

The present phase of construction is scheduled to last three years and four months, ending in August 2015. The opening was previously scheduled for March of the same year.

The project, that was the initiation of the previous Minister of Antiquities, currently provides 5,000 job opportunities, with another 15,000 work opportuni-ties expected once it is opened. The new museum will secure a substantial income for Egypt.

Suez nationaL muSeum

The Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs and General Mohamed Abdel Moneim Hashem, Governor of Suez inaugurated the Suez National Museum last month. The opening was a big cele-bration to coincide with the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, in recognition of the city of Suez as it was the first city to launch, the first spark of the revolution.

The 48 million Egyptian pounds project in Suez is built over 6000 m² and houses 2,500 archaeological pieces that tell the story of the city of Suez from prehis-toric times to the modern era. The Suez Museum will display, in one big hall, archaeological artifacts and illustrations that reveal the modern history of Suez and the residents’ battles against the British occupancy, and will also highlight the struggle of the city that lasted for many years until their victory in the October 24th, 1973 battle. The museum is also equipped with 221 electronic guide systems in Arabic, English and French, in addition to 48 fixed surveillance cameras.

The Minister of Antiquities confirmed that the feasi-bility study conducted for the project before the kick of work in early 1994, confirmed that the museum is expected to originate important revenue. The museum, that is to be listed among the main Egyptian touristic sites, is expected to receive more than one million visitors per year. The Minister called on for the foundation of an association for the Museum’s friends, from the youth and businessmen to promote it both locally and internationally.

The Suez National Museum is a modern, two-storey building. The ground floor includes an exhibition hall, stock rooms, a VIP Lounge, a library, a cafeteria and administrative offices. While the first floor displays the uncovered archaeological pieces and the second floor includes six exhibition halls each specialized in a different era of the ancient Egyptian times. The museum’s building is surrounded by a 10 m² garden and a 12 thousand m² parking area.

The museum also includes in an adjacent area, restoration laboratories equipped with the latest equipment for restorations.

Art

1st Bahgory on Revolution. - Paintings by Georges Bahgory. An event dedicated to the first anniversary of the Egyptian uprising.Al Masar Gallery, Baehler’s Mansion, 157b, 26 July

St. Zamalek.

Tel: (02) 2736 8537

Time: Exhibition runs until February 17th

1st Salatat - Artist Hany Rashed. His pop art style and masterful collage evolve with fluidity over the course of his art career. Tache Art Gallery , S-139 El Sahara District,

Designopolis, Km38, Cairo/Alexandria Road.

Tel: (02) 3857 2232

Time: Exhibition runs until February 25th

1st Politica - Artist Kassem. A young con-temporary artist that has shown great cre-ativity in creating a world entirely his own.Safar Khan Art Gallery, 6 Brazil Street

Tel: (02) 2735 3314

Time: Exhibition runs until February 24th

4th Painting & Sculpture Exhibition - Art-ists Hamdi Abouelmaati, Shawki Maarouf, Salah Abdel Rahman, Moustafa Abdel Rehiem and Magdy Osman.Picasso Art Gallery, Brazil Street

Tel: (02) 2736 7544

Time: Exhibition runs until February 19th. Opening

at 7 pm

5th Van Leo - A Rare Look. - A photo-graphic exhibition featuring a special photographic exhibition by one of Egypt’s greatest photographers.

The Photographic Gallery

Tel: (02) 2615 3318

Time: Exhibition runs until March 1st

6th Al Lakta Al Wahda. - A collective of artists exhibition from various back-grounds. Their works cover a wide range of themes and will be opened during a movie screening that depicts an urban renewal and gentrification project in Tur-key.Austrian Cultural Forum, 1103 Corniche El Nil, 1st

floor. Garden City

Tel: (02) 3570 2975

Time: Exhibition until February 16th.

12th Razor-Sharp Teeth. - Artist Ali Abdel Mohsen who draws inspiration from the long-list of things that make him misera-ble, like bad news, conflicts and deterio-ration.Mashrabia Gallery, 8 Champollion St. Downtown

Tel: (02) 2578 4494

Time: Exhibition runs until March 8th

26th Giza Threads. - A photographic exhi-bition by Rana El Nemr. Townhouse Gallery, 10 Nabrawy St, off Champolion,

Downtown

Tel: (02) 2576 8086

Time: Opening at 7 pm. Exhibition until March 1st

Opera

11th Wagner’s Gotterdammerung - Live opera from Metropolitan Opera. Debo-rah Voigt stars as Brunnhilde and Gary Lehman is Siegried, the star-crossed lovers doomed by fate. Small Hall, Cairo Opera House

Tel: (02) 2739 0132

Time: 7 pm

25th Verdi’s Ernani - Live opera from Met-ropolitan Opera. Angela Meade takes center stage in Verdi’s thrilling early gem. Salvatore Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferruc-cio Fulanetto round out the cast.Small Hall, Cairo Opera House

Tel: (02) 2739 0132

Time: 7 pm

Ballet

16th , 17th & 19th - 22nd - Swan Lake The Cairo Opera Ballet Company will perform one of the most famous classi-cal ballets by Tchaikovsky to a libretto by Begitchev and Geltser. Although it is pre-sented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their staging both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Iva-nov.Main Hall, Cairo Opera House

Tel: (02) 2739 0132

Time: 8 pm

Modern Dance

22nd & 24th & 26th - 29th Spiritualities of Bejart - Egyptian Modern Dance Theater Company founded by Walid Aouni. Gomhouria Theater, Abdeen Square

Tel: (02) 2739 0132

Time: 8 pm

March 1st Carte Blanche to Hip Hop - Four groups from Alexandria will perform to be followed by a panel discussionFrench French Institute, 30 Nabi Daniel St. in

Alexandria

Tel: (03) 392 0804

Time: 7 pm

Music

CALENDARFebruary 2012

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2nd Oriental Percussion Fusion - Fathy Sal-ama and Sharkiat Group Cairo Jazz Club, 197 26th July St. Agouza Giza

Tel: (02) 3346 1071

Time: 10 pm

4th Jazz Fusion - Fawk El Setouh BandEl Sawy Cultural Wheel, end 26 July St. ZamalekTel: (02) 2736 8881

Time: 8 pm

7th Egyptian Modern Songs - Masar Egbary BandEl Sawy Cultural Wheel, end 26 July St. Zamalek

Tel: (02) 2736 8881

Time: 8 pm

7th Contemporary Oriental Fusion - Canadian artist Neema and Egypt’s own Salalem Band Cairo Jazz Club, 197 26th July St. Agouza Giza

Tel: (02) 3346 1071

Time: 10 pm

9th Chloe (France) - DJ set with Neobyrd Band (Egypt).

French Institute in Cairo, Mounira

Tel: (02) 2791 5800

Time: 8 pm to midnight. Invitations from the Institute

are required.

12th Piano Recital - Veteran pianist Omar Khairat. Main Hall, Cairo Opera House

Tel: (02) 2739 0132

Time: 8 pm

17th Jazz Concert - Veteran jazz player Yehia Khalil. Small Hall, Cairo Opera House

Time: 8 pm

21st Acoustic Original and Blues - Tamara Yousri followed by Bluenotes Cairo Jazz Club, 197 26th July St. Agouza Giza

Tel: (02) 3346 1071

26th Classy Jazz - Ashraf Habashi and The Jazz Caterers Cairo Jazz Club, 197 26th July St. Agouza GizaTel: (02) 3346 1071

Time: 10 pm

Theater

7th to 10th A Lifetime Painting - A musi-cal play that focuses on several Gibran Khalil Bibran’s works, which shows his great thoughts that reach the boundar-ies of materialistic and spiritual existence. Twenty scenes with different themes accompanied by a review of Gibran’s views and stages in life. Directed by Joe MoukarzelMain Hall, Cairo Opera House

Time: 8 pm and 9th & 10th a matinee show

8th , 9th & 13th - 16th Mad Forest - Play by Caryl Churchill. The play discusses the Romanian Revolution in 1989 with its political and social repercus-sion on the people. Malak Gabr Arts Theater, American University, New

Cairo Campus

Tel: (02) 2615 1221

Time: 7 pm

13th The Left-handed Woman - The per-formance is in Arabic in adaptation to the novel by Peter Handke. The performance is back after its great success in 2011Rawabet Theater, 3 Hussein Me’amar St. (off

Mahmhoud Bassiouni St. Talaat Harb Sq.)

Downtown

Time: 8 pm

Film Screening

6th Austrian Film Screening - “My House Stood in Sulukule” - A documentary on a run-down district in Istanbul. The film depicts Sulukule as an example of numer-ous urban renewal and gentrification projects world-wide and their social con-sequences. The movie is shown in its origi-nal language with German subtitles.Austrian Cultural Forum, 1103 Corniche El Nil, 1st

floor. Garden City

Tel: (02) 3570 2975

Time: 6.30 pm

Folklore16th Salma El assal - Sudanese singer. Every Wednesday a performance for Mazaher Band.Makan, 1 Saad Zaghloul St. Al Diwan

Tel: (02) 2792 0878

Time: 9 pm

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