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An example of Italo-Egyptian cooperation” will be presented on 10 December at the Accademia dei Lincei. The initiative is being funded by the Italian Cooperation and is now in its second stage.

The project is a highly ambitious one whose results were recently examined at a conference held in Cairo where participants included, among others, Italian ambassador to Egypt Claudio Pacifico and Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Deputy Minister for Culture Zahi Hawass, who are also expected at the Accademia dei Lincei, along with Egyptian Minister for Cooperation Fayza Aboulnaga, Governor of Fayoum Galal el Said, Prof. Edda Bresciani and architect Antonio Giammarusti.

During the conference the importance of Italian and Egyptian institutions' experience and know-how was foregrounded, which were exemplified by the fruitful cooperation between the Italian University of Pisa and Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, which led not only to recovery of the only Middle Kingdom temple in the country, with texts inscribed into the walls and relief works, as well as the restoration of the entire surrounding area, but also, and most importantly, its availability to visitors in full compliance with the defence of the environment and with major socio-economic returns.

The uniqueness of the Medinet Madi archaeological site — the “Luxor of Fayoum”, as Zahi Hawass described it—can become a point of departure for other cooperation exchanges between the two countries aimed at enhancing Egypt's immense cultural and natural patrimony.

Source: PR-Canada [December 14, 2010]