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ANCIENT EGYPT AND TOURISM
Statue of Ramses II inside the Grand Egyptian Museum
Egypt has been a tourist site since ancient times. Herodotus wrote a guidebook for Egypt after visiting it in the 5th century B.C. Nero carted off obelisks and other objects to Rome Herodotus wrote "I shall now speak of Egypt because this country possesses many marvelous things and offers monuments that beggar description, being more magnificent than those of any other country. ” On the Egyptians he wrote: “They have existed ever since men existed upon the earth. ” In the 19th century, Egypt was a popular destination for the European elite. Works that would be regarded as treasures in modern museums were sold at tourist prices. A 19th century writer wrote of art market in Thebes: “As workmen, the Copts are perhaps the more artistic. As salesmen, the Arabs are perhaps the least dishonest. Both sell more forgeries than genuine antiquities. ”
Dr Joann Fletcher wrote for BBC: “Although Europeans had occasionally ventured as far as Egypt in the 17th and 18th centuries, the country became more accessible to western travelers following the French invasion of 1798. Those touring the Mediterranean often made a detour to visit Cairo and the pyramids, with the first guide book to Egypt published in 1835.Despite warnings from writer and traveler Harriet Martineau that 'Egypt is not the place to go for the recreation of travel. [Source: Dr Joann Fletcher, BBC, 2011-02-17 |::|
Today, some archaeologists and guides look inside tombs using a shaving mirror to shine sunlight inside. Egypt has announced dozens of ancient discoveries in the past couple of years, in the hope of attracting more tourists. The tourism industry has been reeling from the political turmoil following the 2011 popular uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The sector was also dealt a further blow last year by the coronavirus pandemic. [Source Associated Press]
Tourism in Egypt in the 19th Century
Tourism to Egypt took off in 1869 with Thomas Cook's first escorted tour to Egypt, described by Cook himself as 'a great event in the arrangements of modern travel'. Dr Joann Fletcher wrote for the BBC, Before the availability of long-distance air travel for the whole route, tourists could either travel overland across Europe before taking a steamer across the Mediterranean, or they could simply make the whole journey by sea, which took around two weeks. |
“Arriving at the ports of Alexandria or Port Said, most took the train south to Cairo, where they could take the standard sight-seeing tour of the city, its great museum and the nearby pyramid sites. Many then went on by steamer to visit the famous ruins along the Nile, and to see for themselves the excavations being carried out there. If regarded as sufficiently important to be given guided tours by the archaeologists themselves, such illustrious guests as the Empress of France or the Prince of Wales were presented with finds, although some were not averse to asking for whatever took their fancy. [Source: Dr Joann Fletcher, BBC, February 17, 2011]
In order to accommodate Egypt's increasing tourist numbers as well as those passing through en route to India, new hotels were quickly created to cater for them. The first were built in Cairo, and as early as the 1840s, Samuel Shepheard was managing the British Hotel in the city's European quarter. Facing the Ezbekieh Gardens, flanked by mosques and convenient for most amenities, it quickly gained a reputation for good management and Shepheard soon had his name over the door. |::|
“Needing larger premises, he took over an old palace next door which had once been Napoleon's private quarters, and business boomed. By 1857, the Illustrated London News observed, 'Perhaps in no hotel in the world do you find such an assembly of people of the rank and fashion from all countries as are found daily sitting down to the table d'hôte in the grand salon'-sentiments closely echoed by the Egypt Exploration Society's founder Amelia Edwards during her stay: 'so composite and incongruous is this body of Nile-goers, young and old, well-dressed and ill-dressed, learned and unlearned'. Yet as 'the caravansary through which the world flows', Shepheard's bustling atmosphere was not to everyone's taste. Edward Lear felt it was 'more like a pigstye mixed with a beargarden or a horribly noisy railway station than anything I can compare it to', and despite its reputation as the best in Egypt, Mark Twain described it as 'the second worst on earth'. |::|
Tourism Today in Egypt
In 2013, AFP reported: Egypt has unveiled a string of major archaeological discoveries in recent years. Critics say the flurry of excavations has prioritised finds shown to grab media attention over hard academic research. The discoveries have been a key component of Egypt's attempts to revive its vital tourism industry amid a severe economic crisis. [Source: AFP, May 28, 2023]
The government recently launched a strategy "aiming for a rapid increase in inbound tourism" at a rate of 25-30 percent a year, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Issa said at the site on Saturday. Egypt aims to draw in 30 million tourists a year by 2028, up from 13 million before the Covid pandemic. The crowning jewel of the government's strategy is the long-delayed inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum at the foot of the pyramids in Giza.
In 2017, Reuters reported: Tourism in Egypt suffered in the aftermath of the mass protests that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.Militant bomb attacks have also deterred foreign visitors. Egypt’s tourism revenues jumped by 170 percent in the first seven months of 2017, reaching $3.5 billion, authorities said, in welcome news for an economy heavily reliant on the sector for foreign currency and jobs. But then in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic hit [Source: Reuters, September 9, 2017]
Parade of the Mummies to a New Museum in Cairo
In April 2021, Egypt held a “golden parade” similar to ab ancient Egyptian royal funeral procession to transfer mummies from the Old Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahir Square, built in 1902, to a new showcase museum. The preserved remains of 18 kings and four queens, all more than 3,000 years old, were transported through the capital’s streets around dusk on stylised gold barges, accompanied by fireworks, fanfares and honorary salvoes of gunfire. Among the mummies that were moved were those of King Ramses II (reigned 1279–1213 B.C.), his father Seti I (1290–1279 B.C.), and Queen Merit Amun, older sister and wife of Amenhotep I (1526 – 1506 B.C.), Egypt’s tourism ministry said. [Source: David Rose, The Telegraph, April 1, 2021]
David Rose wrote in The Telegraph: Superstitious Egyptians on social media suggested that moving the mummies would cast a curse on their country. “They have argued there is a link between the planned parade and a spate of recent disasters, including the weeklong blockage of the Suez Canal, a deadly train crash and the fatal collapse of an apartment building in Cairo.
The mummies were taken a brand new gallery at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, Old Cairo, which has been designed to emulate the Valley of the Kings in Luxor where the royals were originally buried. The new museum will showcase the remains alongside their original sarcophagi and in a climate-controlled environment to aid preservation.
“The royal remains have been viewed by millions of visitors but the sight of their sallow-cheeked faces and rictus grins are not for the faint-hearted. Archaeologist and former minister Zahi Hawass recalled that Princess Margaret, the Queen's sister, was among previous visitors. "I will never forget when I took Margaret to the museum," he said. “She closed her eyes and ran away — she couldn't stand" what she saw before her.”
Grand Egyptian Museum
The Grand Egyptian Museum also known as the Giza Museum, is an archaeological museum under construction in Giza, Egypt, about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Giza pyramid complex. The Museum will host over 100,000 artifacts from ancient Egyptian civilization, including the complete Tutankhamun collection, and many pieces will be displayed for the first time. With 81,000 square meter (872,000 square feet) of floor space, it will be the world's largest archeological museum. It is being built as part of a new master plan for the Giza Plateau, known as "Giza 2030". [Source Wikipedia]
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will also host permanent exhibition galleries, temporary exhibitions, special exhibitions, children museum, and virtual and large format screens with a total floor area of 32,000 square meters. The museum was built by a joint venture of the Belgian BESIX Group and the Egyptian Orascom Construction
The original estimated completion date was 2013, and past estimates of the opening date have varied. As of July 2024, only the Grand Hall, Grand Staircase, commercial area, and exterior gardens are open for tours, while the galleries and collections are not yet open to the public.
The building design was decided by an architectural competition. won by architects Róisín Heneghan and Shi-Fu Peng, and their company Heneghan Peng Architects of Ireland. The building was designed by Heneghan Peng Architects, Buro Happold, Arup and ACE Consulting Engineers (Moharram and Bakhoum). The landscape and site masterplan was designed by West 8. The project is estimated to cost US$550 million, of which US$300 million will be financed from Japanese loans. The remaining costs are financed by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, other donations, and international funds.
exterior of the Grand Egyptian Museum under construction in 2019
The building is shaped like a chamfered triangle in plan. It sits on a site 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) northwest of the pyramids, near a motorway interchange. The building's north and south walls line up directly with the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Menkaure. The front of the museum includes a large plaza filled with date palms and a façade made of translucent alabaster stone. Inside the main entrance is a large atrium, where large statues will be exhibited.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum, The Egyptian Museum in Cairo
Text Sources: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, escholarship.org ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Egypt sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Tour Egypt, Minnesota State University, Mankato, ethanholman.com; Mark Millmore, discoveringegypt.com discoveringegypt.com; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “History of Warfare” by John Keegan (Vintage Books); “History of Art” by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Last updated September 2024