Antiquities museum opens in Cairo airport

Minister hopes it will help provide a badly needed fillip to the tourism industry

In an attempt to revitalise Egypt’s troubled tourism industry, a museum featuring an array of antiquities dating back to different Egyptian eras was inaugurated last week at Cairo Airport.

On display are 39 artefacts from three major Egyptian museums.

“The collection of antiquities at the airport museum reflects the richness of the Egyptian history,” Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Al Damati told a gathering at the opening ceremony on Monday.

“The museum gives the traveller a unique chance to go on a short journey through Egyptian civilisation. This journey will increase his interest in visiting other museums and archaeological sites in Egypt.”

Al Damati said the airport museum features 21 Pharaonic–era artefacts from the National Museum, 12 from the Islamic Art Museum and six from the Coptic Christian Museum. The exhibits include items highlighting life in ancient Egypt, Greco-Roman statutes, ancient coins, Islamic inscriptions, copies of the Quran and Coptic icons.

The visitor is charged $3 for touring the museum, which is open round the clock at Terminal 3 of Cairo Airport in the vicinity of the transit hall.

“This will allow the transit passenger to have the unique experience of visiting the museum at any time,” the minister said.

The tourism industry, a major foreign currency earner for Egypt, has been in the doldrums for more than four months due to the upheaval that followed the 2011 uprising.

Jet brought down

In October, tourism received a new blow when a Russian passenger plane crashed in Egypt shortly after its departure from the popular resort of Sharm Al Shaikh.

All 224 people on board were killed. Russia said the jet had been brought down by a terrorist bomb and halted all flights to Egypt. Daesh claimed responsibility for the alleged bombing.

Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Hossam Kamal hoped that the new museum, entitled “Welcome at the Land of Peace”, will help provide a badly needed fillip to the national tourism.

“The success of this experience in attracting more tourists will encourage us to designate other areas at Cairo airport to display more of Egypt’s antiquities,” Kamal told the opening ceremony. “It will also motivate us to study the possibility of having similar expositions at other Egyptian airports such as those in Sharm Al Shaikh and Hurghada,” he added, referring to Egypt’s main Red Sea tourist resorts.

Tourism makes up around 14.4 per cent of Egypt’s crucial foreign currency earnings, according to government figures.

About 10 million tourists visited Egypt last year, down from a record 15 million in 2010.