After 7-year closure, Rommel Cave Museum receives visitors

CAIRO – 25 August 2017: After being closed for seven years for renovations, the Rommel Cave Museum re-opened on Friday.

The museum was reopened by the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled Anany alongside the Marsa Matrouh governor Alaa Abou Zeid. The renovation of the museum was carried out as a result of the cooperation between the Matrouh governorate and the Ministry of Antiquities.

The opening of the museum comes within the celebrations of Matrouh National Day. The celebrations include a number of public figures, media people, and businessmen to support Matrouh. The reopening of the Rommel Cave Museum came after almost seven years of closure.

The Rommel Cave Museum is a cave inside the core of the mountain that dates back to the Greco-Roman era. It is in the shape of an arch with an entrance and exit at the end of the cliff overlooking the beach. The German general Rommel, dubbed the Desert Fox, chose it to be his headquarters during the war. The cave is located near Rommel beach.

The cave was transformed to a museum and opened to the public for the first time in 1988 for the sake of displaying some of Rommel’s personal possessions, such as his weapons, shells and the military equipment he used during the war.

The museum contains other of Rommel’s personal objects like a leather coat, clothes, photographs, a field telephone, a compass, military attire, maps that he drew, battle plans and medals he received from Hitler. In 2010 the museum was closed for renovations and developments. The Ministry of Antiquities was keen to reopen the museum as a major tourist attraction in Matrouh to promote tourism. The Rommel Cave Museum will be open late so as to allow its visitors to visit after enjoying the beach in the morning.