On Monday, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities presented a refurbished wing of its oldest museum in Cairo.
The museum wing makeover is the first step in a larger repair plan for the 120-year-old museum near Tahrir Square.
“Today we announce the completion of the first phase of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square’s renovation as we are delivering a message to the whole world that the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square is still developing”, said Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Eissa, during the speech.
The centerpiece of the reopening of the refurbished wing is a scroll uncovered last year that contains around 113 spells from the Book of the Dead.
“I am very proud finally to find the tallest, the longest, the strongest, the best quality papyrus ever discovered in Egypt is this one, Waziry 1 papyri, I am very proud”, admitted Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The scroll is composed of 150 hieratic columns written entirely in black and crimson.
For well over a decade, Egypt has been constructing a cutting-edge museum near the pyramids that will store tens of thousands of ancient artifacts.
The Great Egyptian Museum has already cost more than a billion dollars, and its inauguration date has been continually postponed.