Supreme Council of Antiquities

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The Supreme Council of Antiquities ( SCA , Arabic المجلس الأعلى للآثار al-Majlis al-Aʿla li-l-Athar , DMG al-maǧlis al-aʿlā li-l-āṯār  , ' Supreme Council for Antiquities '; French Conseil suprême des Antiquités égyptiennes ) is the highest monument conservation authority in Egypt . She is responsible for the regulation of all archaeological excavations in Egypt, the preservation of finds and the protection of archaeological sites in Egypt. Other tasks include exhibitions , research , documentation and the publication of media information on Egyptian cultural heritage. It reports to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.

The blue flag of the Supreme Council for Antiquities above and in front of the Egyptian Museum

history

The establishment of an authority for the protection of Egyptian antiquities goes back to the year 1859, in which the Département d'Antiquités or Service d'Antiquités ( Antique Service) was founded by the French Auguste Mariette (1821-1881). Mariette fought for the preservation of Egyptian monuments, against the looters and against the unauthorized export of Egyptian antiquities. It was his concern that the antiques stay in Egypt. In 1858 he was appointed director of the Egyptian monuments by the Khediven (viceroy), the Service des Antiquités d'Egypte (SAE) , which still exists today. In the Bulaq district of Cairo , Mariette had acquired an old port hall and used it to house the antiquities.

Mariette's successor was Gaston Maspero . Under his leadership, the French Archaeological Institute for the Orient ( Institut français d'archéologie orientale (IFAO) ) was established as a separate institution and a larger museum was being planned, as the warehouse was constantly threatened by the flooding of the Nile. Maspero was so bound by his teaching commitment in Paris that he often had to be represented by Emil Brugsch , so that the bond became more and more looser. Around 1900 the construction of the Egyptian Museum could then be tackled, during which the antiquities were briefly relocated to Giza . In 1904 Sir William Edmund Garstin became an advisor to the Egyptian government as Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Works . Antiquities were also subordinate to the ministry. In this capacity he worked closely with the Service d'Antiquités Egyptien and Gaston Maspero.

Although the British had controlled the Egyptian government since 1880 and after the First World War had placed Egypt , which was completely independent of the Ottoman Empire, under their protectorate , the administration of the authority remained in French hands. Only after the Second World War and the overthrow of the king under Gamal Abdel Nasser was the antiquities authority nationalized and placed under Egyptian leadership. In 1971 the authority was named Egyptian Antiquities Organization (EAO) (Egyptian Antiquities Administration ), as it was then called until 1994. In that year it was renamed and reorganized to become today's Supreme Council of Antiquities .

During the revolution in Egypt in 2011 , the Supreme Council of Antiquities was released from the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and transferred to a separate Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs (MSAA), later the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA). Minister at the time was Zahi Hawass . In connection with multiple cabinet reshuffles, the future of the ministry was uncertain several times. Eventually it was dissolved on July 17, 2011 and the re-created Supreme Council of Antiquities was again placed under the direct control of the Ministry of Culture.

The chief inspectors

When Gaston Maspero returned to work for the second time in the fall of 1899, the staff consisted of just 24 people, including guards. In October it was decided to employ two European chief inspectors. They were tasked with preserving and repairing the monuments in their area, carrying out excavations for the SAE, and overseeing the excavations carried out by other people. One inspector should be stationed in Cairo and be responsible for the area from the delta to Kus, the other from Kus to the Sudanese border. They received a salary of 400 Egyptian pounds, which would increase to 600 within four years and then to 800 thereafter. After four years, the two inspectors should change their area: based on the experience then available, the division should be discussed again. The first two chief inspectors Maspero appointed were James Edward Quibell for the north and Howard Carter for the south. They were huge areas and money was always tight in the service. Carter moved into the House of Service in Medinet Habu . A larger house with offices was being planned on the east side of the Nile.

Structure, tasks and employees today

The Supreme Council of Antiquities is divided into a total of six departments with the following responsibilities:

  • the Secretary General's Department,
  • the department for the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman epochs,
  • the department for the Coptic and Islamic Period,
  • the department for financial support of antiques and museums,
  • the general projects department,
  • the Department of Museums.

All six departments are assigned the tasks of administration, finance, technology, development and science.

The Minister of Culture is president of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The General Secretary is responsible for managing the authority. All department heads are permanent members of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the departments are under the direction of the Secretary General in all administrative and operational matters.

Directors, General Secretaries & President

"Service des Antiquités d'Egypte" (SAE)

French directors:

Egyptian Directors:

  • 1953-1956: Mostafa Amer
  • 1956–1957: Abbas Bayoumi
  • 1957–1959: Moharram Kamal
  • 1959: Abd el-Fattah Hilmy
  • 1960–1964: Mohammed Anwar Shoukry
  • 1964–1966: Mohammed Mahdi
  • 1967-1971: Gamal Mokhtar

Directors of the "Egyptian Antiquities Organization" (EAO)

  • 1971-1977: Gamal Mokhtar
  • 1977–1978: Mohammed Abd el-Qader Mohammed
  • 1978-1981: Shehata Adam
  • 1981: Fuad el-Oraby
  • 1982-1988: Ahmed Khadry
  • 1988: Mohammed Abdel Halim Nur el-Din
  • 1989-1990: Sayed Tawfik
  • 1990-1993: Mohammed Ibrahim Bakr

General secretaries of the "Supreme Council of Antiquities" (SCA)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas Garnet Henry James: Howard Carter: The Path to Tutankhamun. Tauris, London 1992; New edition 2006, ISBN 978-1845112585 , p. 76ff.
  2. ↑ eternal egypt ( Memento of the original dated February 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.eternalegypt.org
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sca-egypt.org