Egyptian Scholars Struggle to Protect Ancient Artifacts Amid New Violence
When soldiers and protesters clashed in downtown Cairo in late December, the army’s crackdown left at least 16 dead and hundreds injured. Another victim of the violence was the oldest scientific institute in Egypt, which was largely destroyed in a fire, along with much of its precious library.
The destruction of the historical archive of the Egyptian Scientific Institute caused an outcry. But while this is the most significant case of Egypt’s historical heritage being damaged by the turbulence of the last year, it is hardly the only one. Since the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak last February, antiquities and historical sites have faced a variety of new dangers.
“Threats to the heritage are diversifying,” says Tamar Teneishvili, who oversees cultural programs in Egypt for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. “Who would have thought that the institute would burn that way? The situation is so unpredictable and volatile.”
Enlarge ImageFilippo Monteforte, AFP, Getty ImagesThe Egyptian Scientific Institute, with its repository of the nation’s cultural and historical treasures, was set ablaze during the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in December. The director of the institute is determined that it will resume its scholarly mission, with better security.
Enlarge ImageMohammed Abed, AFP, Getty ImagesVolunteers at the Egyptian Scientific Institute have carried tens of thousands of fragments of charred books to the basement of the nearby National Archives. There the surviving items fill the air with the aroma of singed, damp paper. The most valuable works are salvaged page by page.
The institute was created in 1798 as the Institut d’Egypte by Napoleon Bonaparte during his Egyptian campaign. One of the most precious books in its collection was the original Description d’Egypte, a first-of-its-kind, multivolume illustrated description of the country’s geography, landmarks, customs, and history that 150 scholars who accompanied the French expedition spent 20 years assembling. (Eight of the 20 volumes have reportedly been recovered.) The institute’s library grew over the next two centuries, alongside research in every field on Egypt.
Today the institute, on the iconic Tahrir Square, lies in ruins, its roof collapsed and its walls blackened. Teams of volunteers have sought to salvage historic documents, moving tens of thousands of fragments to the basement of Egypt’s nearby National Archives. There the surviving items are spread out in neat, seemingly endless piles along the corridors, filling the air with the smell of singed, damp paper. Teams of archives employees in white smocks and surgical gloves collect the charred pages into parcels and vacuum-seal them, to draw out any remaining moisture. They work on the most valuable books page by page, delicately inserting sheets of rice paper.
This is just the first step in a long, costly process of restoration and reassembly. It could take up to 10 years and $7-million to restore what’s left of the collection, estimates Abdel Wahed El Nabawy, chairman of the National Archives.
“This disaster has come to us, and we don’t have the capacity to deal with it,” he says. The salvage team is in need of all sorts of equipment: specialized drying and vacuum-sealing machines, chemicals, computers, even such basic items as gloves to handle the books and cabinets to store them.