Art Dubai announces artists and Curator inResidence for 2012

DUBAI.- Art Dubai, in partnership with the Delfina Foundation, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and Tashkeel, has launched Artists-in-Residence (A.i.R) Dubai 2012, an annual programme for artists and curators based in the historic quarter of Bastakiya, Dubai. Artists Hadeyah Badri, Fayçal Baghriche, Zeinab Al Hashimi, Magdi Mostafa, Nasir Nasrallah, and Deniz Uster have been selected for the three-month residency in the lead-up to Art Week, the Gulf-wide programme of fairs, museum shows, exhibitions, performances and projects that coincides with Art Dubai [...]

Hundreds of Egyptian College Students Rally at Iconic Pyramids for Return of Tourists

CAIRO (AP).- As hundreds of Egyptian college students rallied at the iconic pyramids of Giza Friday to promote tourism, camel guide Salah Shabani stood to the side and looked on with sadness. It’s been two weeks since a popular uprising forced President Hosni Mubarak from power, but there has been no return of the crowds of foreigners who come to gaze at the pyramids and get their picture on a camel. Egyptian tourist guides and security sit near the Pyramids, [...]

King Tutankhamun’s Stolen Dad Found; Egypt Sites to Reopen on Sunday

CAIRO (AP).- Egypt said it will reopen historical sites to tourism on Sunday as it sought to revive a key industry shattered in the turmoil that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Archaeologists were cheered by the recovery of the most important artifact stolen from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, a rare statue of King Tut’s father. A 16-year-old anti-government protester found the statue of the Pharaoh Akhenaten next to a garbage can and his family returned it, the antiquities ministry said. But damage [...]

150 Archaeology Graduates Protest Against Egypt’s Antiquities Chief Zahi Hawass

CAIRO (AP).- The man in charge of Egyptian antiquities starred in a TV show about his exploits, sports an “Indiana Jones”-style fedora and triumphantly declared that the nation’s heritage was mostly unscathed after the revolt that toppled the president. On Monday, however, he was under siege, the target of angry protesters who want him to quit. “Get out,” a crowd of 150 archaeology graduates chanted outside the office of Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass, who threw in his lot with the [...]

Anti-Government Protesters in Cairo Smash Treasures and Mummies in Egyptian Museum

CAIRO (REUTERS).- Looters broke into the Cairo museum housing the world’s greatest collection of Pharaonic treasures, smashing several statues and damaging two mummies, while police battled anti-government protesters on the streets. Arabiya television showed soldiers, armed and in battle fatigues, patrolling the museum that houses tens of thousands of objects in its galleries and storerooms, including most of the King Tutankhamen collection. Display cases were shattered and several broken statues and porcelain figures lay on the floor. An Egyptian army [...]

Antiquities Chief Says Ancient Egyptian Wall Paintings to Return to Luxor

CAIRO.- Egypt’s antiquities chief says the wall paintings that caused a feud between Egypt and the Louvre Museum will be returned to their original location in a tomb south of Egypt. In a statement Wednesday, Zahi Hawass says the ancient pieces will be restored by experts and replaced on the wall of a 3,200-year-old tomb in Luxor, 320 miles (510 kilometers) south of Cairo. Hawass cut ties with the Louvre in October, saying the museum had refused to return the [...]

France Returns the Louvre’s Wall Paintings Sought by Egypt

PARIS.- Fragments of an ancient wall painting that caused a feud between Egypt and the Louvre Museum are heading home. France returned the ancient artwork to Egyptian officials after President Hosni Mubarak inspected one of the fragments following a visit with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy. The pockmarked slab in sepia and blue tones, from a 3,200-year-old tomb near the ancient temple city of Luxor, shows an offering from a nobleman to a servant. One of the five fragments of [...]