Egypt opens museum design competition

Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt opened an international design competition Wednesday for a new antiquities museum that officials say would be the world’s largest and would be built near the pyramids.

The $350 million, high-tech museum will sit on 5 million square feet of space and house all 150,000 artifacts that are now crammed in the existing Egyptian Museum. It is expected to open in five years.

The old facility, which opened in downtown Cairo in 1902, has long had too little exhibition space, with many of its pharaonic, Coptic, Islamic and other treasures stored in the basement. Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said that after the new museum opens, the old one will continue to house art. He did not offer details.

Experts anticipate that the new museum will initially draw 3 million visitors a year.

Egyptian officials want the museum to be designed in a way that expresses something about the periods and styles of the artifacts it houses.

The World Bank has offered to provide long-term loans for the project, according to Hosni. But the minister said Egypt would be responsible for financing the project and that he expects it to make a profit after 12 years.

Egypt’s economy relies on tourists who come to see its ancient treasures.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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