The Egyptian Museum celebrated its 116th anniversary on Tuesday.
On the sidelines of the ceremony, Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anany stressed that the Egyptian Museum will not fade in relevancy after Tutankhamun’s items are transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The ruins of Yuya and Tuya, the ancestors of King Akhenaten include 200 wonderful archaeological pieces, and a large area of display at the museum has been allocated to it to replace Tutankhamun’s items, he said.
According to the minister, 4400 of Tutankhamun’s items have been transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum in preparation for its inauguration in 2020.
The archaeological items for Yuya and Tuya were discovered by the American archaeologist Theodore Davies in 1905 in their tomb at the Valley of Kings in Luxor.
Yuya was a senior official under the reign of King Tuthmose IV, supervisor for the cattle of the god Min, and his wife Tuya was priestess of the gods Amun, Hathor, and Min in Akhmim.
A 20-meter-long papyrus was found inside the cemetery, where Yuya and Tuya had written their prayers, and is now undergoing a thorough restoration for the first time.
The ceremony was attended by Minister of the People’s Assembly and Shura Council Affairs Omar Marwan, Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Agriculture Ezzeddin Abusetit, Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry, Giza Governor Ahmed Rashed and other ministers and parliament members.
The museum’s staff was working to complete all required procedures for the ceremony and to welcome guests in a manner worthy of the museum’s historical and archaeological value, director general of the Egyptian Museum Sabah Abdel Razek said.
She added that Anany was keen to inspect the museum over the past few days to ensure it’s readiness for guests during it’s 116th birthday.
During the ceremony Anany inaugurated the eastern pavilion in the upper floor of the Egyptian Museum, allocated for Tuya and Yuya’s items.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
