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Plan your trip to the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, Egypt with our guide on what to see (including the Pyramid of Djoser) and how to get there.
Source: How to Visit Saqqara, Egypt: The Complete Guide
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The oldest library in the world goes digital; Vittoria Traverso; Aleteia
Built between 548 and 565, St. Catherine’s Monastery, officially known as “Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai,” is the oldest Christian monastery still in use for its…
UCLA Library to host digital archive of ancient Arabic and Syriac manuscripts; Dawn Setzer; UCLA Newsroom
Arcadia Fund grant will help open access to rare manuscripts from St. Catherine’s Monastery.
Source: UCLA Library to host digital archive of ancient Arabic and Syriac manuscripts
Ancient mummification workshop unearthed near Giza pyramids in Egypt; TornosNews.gr
A mummification workshop, going back to ancient Egypt near the country’s Giza pyramids has been unearthed after 2,500 years and includes a gold cast mask,…
Source: Ancient mummification workshop unearthed near Giza pyramids in Egypt | TornosNews.gr
Chinese Sphinx replica row with Egypt rekindled after impostor reappears; ABC
The Egyptian Government is accusing China of intellectual property theft and cultural violation.
Source: Chinese Sphinx replica row with Egypt rekindled after impostor reappears
Replica Sphinx reappears 2 years after Egypt was told it was torn down; Kelsey Cheng; Daily Mail
Egypt had reportedly called the replica an insult to its cultural heritage and demanded it be torn down when it was first erected in 2014 at a theme park in Hebei province, north China.
Source: Replica Sphinx reappears 2 years after Egypt was told it was torn down
Cairo is a feast for all the senses; Neeta Lal; Rediff
Neeta Lal can’t get enough of Egypt’s capital.
Cairo, Egypt’s sprawling capital, is a maelstrom of sights, sounds and smells.
Peppered with Pharaonic sites, soaring minarets, Coptic churches, mosques and mausoleums, history jostles with modernity at every corner of this stunning, teeming city of 20 million people.
Dive right in for an immersive experience.
Watch graceful abaya (headscarf)-clad women with kohl-lined eyes glide about town with kids in tow.
Men in galabiyas (traditional robes) play backgammon and suck shishas (hookahs) outside cafes with pipes stuck in their mouths like oxygen tubes.
Kamikaze vehicles belching noxious fumes on gridlocked roads, scooters hauling families of four and mules pulling vegetable carts add diversity to the moving landscape.
“As the cultural and artistic hub of the Middle East, Cairo is known as ‘Umm al-Dunya’ or mother of the world,” our guide Abdel Kawy tells us as we amble across the Kasr el-Nil Bridge towards the storied Tahrir Square, stopping for a moment to take in the view.
The iconic square is the pivot around which all of Cairo seems to flow.
Read more from source: Cairo is a feast for all the senses
Saint Catherine’s Monastery And The World’s Oldest Library; Kaushik; Amusing Planet
Deep in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, in a region of wilderness made up of granite rock and rugged mountains, lies the town of Saint Catherine. It was here, at the foot of Mount Sinai, that Moses is believed to have received the Ten Commandments from God. Naturally, this region is sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims alike.
Between 548 and 565, the Eastern Roman emperor, Justinian the Great, ordered the construction of a monastery dedicated to Saint Catherine at this site. The monastery has never been destroyed or looted in all its history, making it one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world. It also contains the world’s oldest continually operating library, where is preserved the world’s second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts in a variety of languages, outnumbered only by the Vatican Library.
The monastery is surrounded by a massive wall, the original one, erected by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. Until the 20th century, access was through a door high in the outer walls. The entrance is now through a smaller gate to the left of the main gate.
Egyptians worry Renaissance Dam poses risk for heritage sites along Nile; Salwa Samir; Al Monitor
Natural and cultural heritage sites in Egypt and the Nile Basin countries are at risk due to the negative impact on the environment that would be caused by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, according to a study by Egyptian archaeologist Abdel Aziz Salem.
Ethiopia started building the dam in 2011, at the height of the Arab Spring. As it nears completion seven years later, it has become a major conflict between Ethiopia and its two downstream neighbors, Egypt and Sudan.
Salem’s study, which was finalized in March, reports that the construction of the dam is not simply a political and economic issue but a cultural one, as it would have grave consequences on the UNESCO-registered natural and cultural sites in the Nile Basin.
The report, which is the result of a five-year research project by Salem, states that the sites at risk are located not just in Egypt, but in Ethiopia and Sudan as well. Salem, a professor of archaeology at Cairo University, worked from 2002 to 2015 at the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Read more from source: Egyptians worry Renaissance Dam poses risk for heritage sites along Nile
In Celebration of World Heritage Day Egypt is Giving Free Entry to its Sites for Students; Albawaba
Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anany has decided to open all archaeological sites registered on the World Heritage List for free to Egyptian students on Wednesday, as part of the ministry’s celebration of World Heritage Day.
In Egypt, six cultural sites–Abu Mena, Ancient Thebes with its necropolis, historic Cairo, Memphis and its necropolis including the pyramid fields from Giza to Dashur, Nubian monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae, and the area centering on Saint Catherine’s Monastery–as well as one natural site–Wadi el-Hitan (Valley of the Whales)–are listed on the World Heritage List, which includes 890 sites worldwide considered to have “outstanding universal value.”
Statement from the Antiquities Ministry said Sunday that Anany also decided to open all the archaeological museums to visit that day for free of charge for Egyptians and Arab residents.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Day, first launched in 1983, aims to raise public awareness about the diversity of cultural heritage and draw attention to ancient sites around the world.
Read more from source: In Celebration of World Heritage Day Egypt is Giving Free Entry to its Sites for Students
