Abdullah Hamed - Cairo

With the readiness of the Egyptian authorities to open the new administrative capital promoted as the greatest achievements of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a controversy erupted after the Ministry of Antiquities transferred many of the Pharaonic monuments to the Museum of the new capital, the most recently discovered cemetery.

Parliamentarian Nadia Henry requested a briefing to the Prime Minister and Minister of Antiquities on the relocation of the Pharaonic tomb of Tutu with a number of other monuments to the new administrative capital museum, to which the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would be gradually transferred by the middle of next year.

The parliamentary said in the request that the transfer and dismantling of pharaonic monuments to distort and erase the history of Egypt, which is a crime will not be statute of limitations, depriving future generations to enjoy, according to the description.

Activists concerned with the Egyptian antiquities, marking the rescue of the tomb of Tutu, called for stopping the transfer of the Pharaonic antiquities to the new capital, while the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities had already completed the dismantling of the bulk of the cemetery.

The ancient Egyptian archeologist at Cairo University, Ahmed Issa, said that the tomb of Tutu in the province of Sohag, which has not yet been published scientifically (ie recording and documenting all the elements of the architectural, historical and artistic impact therein), is currently being cut down with slander,

The cemetery was discovered last April, a double of a man named Tutu and his wife, T-Cherit Isis, in Akhmim, Sohag province, who lived in the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC).

Risk
"If you miss scenes or texts - and that is what will happen - how do we know what went wrong without a scientific publication?" Issa asked in his Facebook page. How do we explain and extract a death certificate without a birth certificate? Stressing that what is happening shows that those who do not deserve an archaeological description, have forgotten or ignored the simplest rules of archeology.

Tour guides said there was an official desire to slaughter a graveyard that was not threatened by any dangers and was the nucleus of an integrated cemetery that revived the entire Akhmim region. They asked: Why is it decided to cut the cemetery to be transferred to a museum is still under construction, with dozens of important effects in the open exposed to all factors of damage and erosion can be transferred to museums to maintain?

The cemetery dates back to the Ptolemaic era. The wife worked as a chauffeur for the worshiper Hathor and was discovered after the police followed a group of smugglers while digging illegally in the area.

And the cemetery is double, and still retain its engravings and colors wonderful, the most important view of the husband and wife with the god Anubis and then the Baath and the arithmetic and the President of the Court of the dead Osiris, in addition to the two human remains and many mummies of animals and birds.

Government Justification
For his part, said the head of the central department of restoration in the Ministry of Antiquities Gharib Sunbel that has been completed cutting about 90% of the walls of the cemetery, in preparation for transfer to the Museum of the new administrative capital, to come to light and see them all.

In a press statement, Sennel confirmed that the cemetery has been removed with 100% success without any damage. He said that the cemetery will be re-installed as it was in its headquarters in Sohag in the capital's administrative museum, where it will be displayed in the same manner as it was discovered.

Officials at the Ministry of Antiquities defend the transfer of the cemetery by saying it is located in an unsafe and uninhabited area, while tour guides refute this claim by saying that the place is located 300 meters from the industrial area of ​​Al Kawthar, populated by factories and residents, close to a large church called the Virgin.

Archaeologist Ahmad Salih said that the government's justifications are a mockery of the minds. He explained that the fact that the cemetery is in a difficult situation and suffers from problems is wrong, because the pictures taken indicate that it is in a good and stable condition.

He continued in a leaflet on his Facebook page, "If the instability of the situation and the condition of the cemetery is the reason was the first transfer temples suffering from the worst of the poor conditions as the temple of Asna," noting that the transfer has become a clear feature in the minds of officials to museums linked to new sites such as the Metropolitan Administrative Museum And the new El Alamein Museum, so as to bring power closer to the expense of monuments.

He pointed out that the fever of the transfer of antiquities began with the idea of ​​transferring the historical platforms of the mosques in Cairo, but they were thwarted, and then succeeded in transferring the San Al-Hajar funerals from the east and statues and traces of the site of the dead hostage historical, and now the tomb of Tutu is being cut.

He stressed that this policy is contrary to the logic, logic and international conventions to preserve the cultural heritage of peoples, including the Charter of Venice, which Egypt signed in 1964.

Article VII of the International Charter states that the historical landmark can not be separated from the cultural fabric of which it is a part, and this is acceptable only in the case of absolute necessity.

Saleh explained that moving the cemetery from Akhmim instead of restoring it and opening it to visit, strips the historic city of its right to preserve and develop its heritage.

The museum's new museum will be the story of the history of Egyptian capitals. The history of these capitals is documented for the first time from the first Egyptian capital after the unification of the country, Memphis, to the new administrative capital.