Forgotten arts in Cairo’s Gezira Museum

Egypt Today staff

Sun, 14 May 2017 - 09:58 GMT

Egypt Today staff

Sun, 14 May 2017 - 09:58 GMT

Jean-Baptiste Huysmans’ painting at the Gezira Museum Via Wikimedia Creative Commons

CAIRO – 14 May 2017: The Geizra Museum in Cairo which encloses one of the largest artistic stores in Egypt, will be opened to visitors soon, after it has been closed for 29 years as stated by Khaled Sorour, the president of the Fine Arts sector in the Ministry of Culture.

The Geizra Museum, located inside al-Nasr Saray at the Cairo Opera House, was built in 1936, and first opened in August 1957 under the rule of late President Gamal Abdel Nasser. It has special works of tapestries and crafts that date back to 18th and 19th centuries, made in Egypt and other countries.

Emad al-Sharif, the museum's curator, told Egypt Today that the museum was closed in 1988 for restoration. The process required 12 million EGP but the lack of funds forced the officials to delay the restoration process for several years.

The museum was designed by renowned architect Moustafa Bey Fahmi. It took the government 5 years of extensive work to prepare the building to display the rare collections of artworks. It has more than 4,000 paintings and sculptures that represent the development of the art movement from the pioneers of the early 20th century to the contemporary art trends.

Much of this rare collection belonged to the royal palaces were confiscated after the July 1952 revolution, including a big collection of Bohemian gilt glassware in the eastern style, enameled glassware in the Islamic style dating back to the 11th and 18th centuries in Egypt, and a collection of Roman and French glassware copying the Islamic design.

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