Egypt to build $150 million underwater antiquities museum

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Friday 01 Jan 2016 - 14:36 Makkah mean time-21-3-1437 Alexandria, (IINA) - Egyptian authorities have recently started developing an underwater antiquities museum in Alexandria with a cost estimated at $150 million, Artnet News reported.   Plans for the project were first visualized in October 2008 by then-Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass. Subsequently, a UNESCO feasibility study was launched in May 2010 but was abruptly interrupted by the Arab Spring and the January 25 Revolution that broke out in 2011. Two years after the Egyptian revolution, in September 2013, UNESCO and Egyptian authorities rekindled the project once again. In September 2015, the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Al-Damaty announced that the government has revived its plans to construct the underwater antiquities museum in Alexandria. A group of specialists and archaeologists selected the Mediterranean city of Alexandria as a location because of its priceless underwater treasures and relics. Founded in 331 BC by Alexander the Great, the Alexandria Bay holds such sunken treasures as Cleopatra's Royal Court and the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. “The museum will reshape the Arab region, as it will be the first of its kind in the world. Undoubtedly it will revive tourism and boost the Egyptian economy after a long recession", Youssef Khalifa, chairman of the Central Administration of Lower Egypt Antiquities, told Al-Monitor. He added that the museum, designed by French architect Jacques Rougerie, “Will include four tall underwater buildings in the form of Nile boats connected to one another over an area of 22,000 square meters (5.4 acres). They will be lined up in a circle with a radius of 40 meters (131 feet)." The museum will have the capacity to accommodate 3 million visitors a year. Although funding deficits have recently stifled the construction of Giza's $1.1 billion Grand Egyptian Museum, the Ministry of Antiquities dismissed concerns over funding for the ambitious underwater project. “Despite the huge cost of the project estimated at more than $150 million, this will not be an obstacle for the completion of the project with the cooperation of UNESCO and other foreign funding countries as the museum will be open to visitors from around the world and not only to Egyptians", said the Ministry's General Director of Sunken Antiquities, Mohammed Mustafa. AG/IINA