Friday, January 20, 2006

Coptic Museum Countdown

El Ahram Weekly columnist Jill Kamil is given a guided tour through the soon to be re-opened Coptic Museum: " We pass into the first chamber and it is clear that care has been taken in choosing the brick colour of the walls, an ideal shade to set off the objects on display. I am reminded of the time Gabra first took me round the museum galleries, back in the 1980s; he was director and I was writing Coptic Egypt: History and Guide. He still exudes the same enthusiasm, and his familiarity with each and every object is apparent. The chamber contains niches, pediments and friezes from Ahnasia (Heracleopolis Magna near Beni Sweif in Middle Egypt), and the subject matter is typical of a pagan Greek community. While each piece is carved with Greek mythological characters such as Aphrodite, Dionysos and the goat- hoofed Pan, the work, he emphasises, has certain distinctive characteristics."
See the entire story on the Al Ahram website, above.

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