Following a restoration and renovation process costing upwards of LE85 million, the Islamic Museum in Cairo is ready to open to the public.
The museum first opened in 1903 as the “House of Arab Antiquities”. It expanded in 1952 to become the Islamic Museum with the addition of a wider range of antiquities from Egypt and the Islamic region. The last phase of development was completed in 1983, by which time the museum housed 2,300 objects representing some of the most remarkable examples of Islamic art.
The new project involved the restoration of the main galleries, which are now arranged according to the most modern museological techniques. Some galleries include exhibits belonging to specific historical periods, while others are allocated to different forms of Islamic art. The museum now boasts a new network of fire alarm and fighting equipment, as well as new administrative offices.
Fountain restored
One of the most famous of the museum exhibits, the Mamluk fountain, was successfully disassembled and moved to the restoration laboratory at the Saladin citadel for restoration under Spanish and Egyptian restorers. It is now on display in the museum courtyard.
The idea of establishing a museum for Islamic antiquities dates back to 1869. By 1880 a number of Islamic antiquities had been collected, and these were kept in the east wing of the al-Hakim Bi’Amr-Allah Mosque for safe-keeping. In the following year Khedive Tawfiq issued a decree announcing the formation of a committee to protect Arab antiquities and the establishment of a special wing in the courtyard of the al-Hakim Bi’Amr-Allah Mosque for their preservation. Pashas and princes who had pieces of Islamic art in their possession donated them to the would-be museum.
When this area became overcrowded the antiquities were moved to the current building, its east wing housing the museum and its west wing the Dar al-Kutub al-Sultaniya, or the Sultanate’s House of Books (The National Library). A large proportion of the new museum’s contents constituted gifts from members of the Egyptian royal family, descendants of Muhammad Ali.
Diverse collection
The museum houses a rare collection of astronomical, surgical and chemistry tools, as well as unique examples of Ommayad and Abbassid woodwork. The oldest tombstone in the collection dates from 31H (A.D 622).
Among the rare manuscripts is one entitled The Benefits of Herbs and a Qur’an, both from the 17th to 18th-century Mamluk era, and another from the 7th-century Ommayad period.
Cairo’s Islamic Museum is one of the topmost institutions in the world for Islamic art and antiquities. Its varied collection covers such diverse areas as textiles, metalwork, woodwork and glass, and derives from a widespread area which includes Iran, Turkey and Andalusia. Culture Minister Farouk Hosny says that several museums from all over the world—including the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Kuwaiti and Qatari Arab museums—have their own Islamic departments, but the renovated Cairo museum will outstrip them all.