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Nubia Museum 

Background

The International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia (1960-1980) resulted in the excavation and recording of hundreds of sites, the recovery of thousands of objects, and the salvage and translocation of a number of important temples to higher ground.

 

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Due to the quantities of material recovered from tombs, temples and settlements, UNESCO was encouraged to assist the Egyptian Authorities in the planning of a Nubian museum in Aswan where the objects could be stored, conserved, studied and exhibited as close as possible to their principal places of origin. This cooperation took place within the framework of the International Campaign to Establish the Nubia Museum at Aswan and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo (1980-today).

The Nubia Museum opened its doors in November 1997. Today’s Nubia Museum at Aswan is the result of twelve years of active work coordinated by the International Campaign’s Executive Committee and its related bodies, and conducted by the Egyptian authorities with the assistance of UNESCO-experts in various fields of specialization. Presently, the work of the Executive Committee and the Secretariat focuses on upgrading the scientific and educational programme and the services of the museum. Therefore, UNESCO remains strongly involved in the museum's development.

Building

The total area of the complex is 50,000 square meters: 7,000 allocated for the building, and 43,000 for the grounds. The architecture of the Museum and the enclosure walls are intended to evoke traditional Nubian village architecture, as it was along the Nubian Nile before the region was flooded by Lake Nasser.

In 2001, the Aga Khan Price for Architecture was awarded to the Nubia Museum, due to "its successful integration of past, present and future by creating in a single building an educational institution dedicated to Nubian history, a contemporary focus for the revival of Nubian culture and a museum designed to promote and preserve cultural artefacts for the future. [...] The building also successfully adapts local architectural styles without imitating them."

The building is set within a landscape on graded levels, that includes a sequence of waterfalls. When the waterway reaches the lower part of the garden, it divides into 2 branches to surround an open-air stage and amphitheater where already many local and foreign groups have performed. The remaining 43,000 sq. m. have been planted with palm trees, flowers, and climbing plants, spread over natural rocks. An outdoor exhibit is planned for the garden. Islamic religious buildings and antiquities occupy the Northern end of the site. An artificial cave containing prehistoric paintings and carvings collected in the Nubian area, an open air theatre and the replica of a Nubian house, typically furnished according to Nubian habits, folklore and traditions can be found to the South.

Collection

The collection of the Nubia museum is composed of artefacts recovered at sites during the UNESCO salvage campaign. It also includes objects from a variety of museums in Egypt, collected in Nubia during the first half of the twentieth century. It displays in its permanent exhibition about 1500 artefacts showing, in chronological order, the material culture of Nubia, from prehistory to present times. Virtually all the objects on display were found in Egyptian Nubia with the exception of a few pieces that have been included in order to demonstrate Nubia’s outside relations with other regions.

Activities

Over the last years, the work of the Executive Committee in regard to the Nubia Museum has focused on capacity building, the establishment of a library and a Documentation Centre for Nubian studies, the preparation of a Nubia Biography, the creation of a museum website and the publication of a museum catalogue and CD-Rom. Efforts to increase the scientific and educational scope of the museum are still ongoing.




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