The Ministry of Culture decided today to close the Nubia Museum in the Upper Egypt city of Aswan due to poor security conditions. The decision comes less than a week after the theft of van Gogh's Poppy Flowers painting from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo.
Secretary-General to the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass said in a statement it decided to close the museum for two weeks until surveillance devices inside the museum are installed.
The installations "have been assigned to a specialized company to implement an integrated project for the development of insurance systems, surveillance and warnings within the Nubia Museum, due to the end of the life span of these devices," said Hawass.
Egyptian authorities are still searching for the missing van Gogh painting, valued at an estimated US$ 55 million. Authorities have blamed the theft on lax security at the museum. Reports claim most of the museum's 43 cameras were inoperative at the time.
Opened the Nubia Museum in Aswan in 1997.
