How to protect Egypt's cultural relics and historic sites

Egypt is one of the four ancient civilizations with rich cultural heritage, and the Egyptians are deeply proud of it. However, as a developing country, due to the lack of sufficient financial support, many precious cultural relics and historical sites in Egypt are being destroyed by various man-made and natural factors. In order to leave the cultural relics and historic sites condensed for thousands of years to future generations, the Egyptian government is taking various measures to increase the protection of cultural relics and historic sites.

Company operation to solve financial difficulties

According to a decree passed by the government in July 2004, the Egyptian Cultural Relics Committee is going to set up a holding company to be responsible for the development, utilization and protection of cultural heritage. The company consists of 12 subsidiaries. These subsidiaries are divided into three categories: the first category is responsible for the cleaning, maintenance and safety of cultural relics; The second category is responsible for supervising the restoration, management and construction of tourist facilities in museums of cultural relics and historical sites; The third category provides technical and consulting services for museums and archaeological research institutions at home and abroad in Egypt. Among these subsidiaries, two are more important, one is responsible for publishing and selling books and audio-visual materials related to Egyptian cultural heritage; Another company is responsible for manufacturing and selling tourist goods related to Pharaoh, Islam and Coptic culture, as well as cultural relics imitations. According to the government decree, these imitations must be officially certified by the Cultural Relics Committee before they can be sold in the market.

The new company will also establish a photo library for all cultural relics and monuments in Egypt, and sell photos to those who need them. All museums and monuments will ban professional photography for profit. It is said that an Italian company once bought the photographic rights of all the exhibits in the Egyptian Museum for $60,000. Soon, the company not only recovered its investment, but also earned $50,000 by selling these photos.

The new company also plans to register logos for various museums and monuments to protect the intellectual property rights of these cultural heritages. The Cultural Relics Committee will be the only institution that has the right to use these signs, and other institutions can only use them by paying royalties. At present, relevant departments have registered 12 signs, including the Pyramid of Giza, Sakala, Egyptian Museum and Islamic Museum.

Hawass, secretary-general of the Egyptian Cultural Relics Committee, called the establishment of this holding company "a comprehensive innovation in the protection of Egyptian cultural heritage". He said: "For a long time, we have been plagued by financial problems such as lack of funds and employees complaining about low wages." He estimated that if the new company can operate smoothly as planned, the Cultural Relics Committee will no longer have to worry about the source of funds for repairing, protecting and excavating cultural relics.

Strengthen management to prevent the outflow of cultural relics.

Egypt, which has a history of thousands of years, is full of historical sites. However, due to the constraints of comprehensive national strength and the level of scientific and technological development, Egypt's own archaeological research ability is very limited. For a long time, the Egyptian government has allowed foreign archaeologists to find, excavate and study historical sites in its territory.

Not long ago, in view of the monopoly of foreign scientific research institutions on the research materials of Egyptian monuments and the collusion of some foreign archaeologists with international cultural relics dealers to steal Egyptian cultural relics, the Egyptian Cultural Relics Committee introduced specific measures and began to strengthen the management of foreign archaeologists in China.

The new system for foreign archaeological teams includes: each foreign archaeologist or archaeological team must apply to the Cultural Relics Committee to work in Egypt for three months or earlier; It is forbidden for foreign archaeologists to bring soil samples from ancient sites back to their own countries for research, and they can only analyze them in research centers under the Committee or research institutions of Egyptian universities; Foreigners doing research work in Egypt should submit monthly progress reports; They must have a special place to place the excavated cultural relics at the excavation site; When you find any new cultural relics or excavation sites that may be dangerous, you must report to the Committee immediately.

Not long ago, a Japanese archaeological team was severely warned by Egypt for violating the rules. The archaeological team unearthed a mummy about 3,800 years ago in the Dakhshur area near Cairo, and announced the discovery to the media without reporting it to the Cultural Relics Committee. Hawass warned that if the team made the same mistake again, it would be banned from continuing its archaeological work in Egypt.

By early February, the Egyptian authorities had closed 65 of the 300 archaeological excavations, suspended the work of 28 foreign archaeological teams and asked some foreign archaeologists suspected of stealing cultural relics to leave Egypt.

Legal means to recover lost cultural relics

Since18th century, western countries have plundered a large number of precious cultural relics in Egypt. Today, Egyptian cultural relics are scattered all over the world, including many priceless cultural relics. Museums in Britain, the United States, France, Germany and Italy have collected hundreds of thousands of Egyptian cultural relics, including 45,000 in the Louvre in France, and 654.38 million in the Turin Museum in Italy. Ironically, the beard carved on the stone on the Sphinx was collected in the British Museum. An obelisk in Europe was moved from the front of the Luxor Temple Tower in Egypt to the center of the Place de la Concorde next to the Louvre. The pedestal was engraved with pictures describing the relocation process of this 250-ton stone monument.

Hawass said that the items auctioned by museums in many countries through international auction companies are Egyptian cultural relics, and Egypt is trying to recover these precious cultural relics through various legal means. In 2004, Egypt recovered about 600 cultural relics stolen from Britain a few years ago. Egypt has also called on museums in western countries to return illegally acquired Egyptian cultural relics on several occasions.

At present, Egypt is asking the British Museum to return the original Rosetta Stone through legal channels. 1799 The Rosetta Stone discovered by French archaeologists is a world-famous treasure, which provides valuable clues for future generations to interpret ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.