6400 copies of stone and wood so far
A factory that reproduces the treasures of ancient Egypt with high quality
The "Kunuz" factory includes more than 150 artists and restorers.
Reuters
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At times life-size, small and carefully embellished at other times, Egypt has inaugurated a factory dedicated to making high-quality reproductions of ancient Egyptian pharaonic monuments, from large statues to tomb artifacts, which are considered archaeological treasures sold to tourists.
The "Kunuz" factory, which covers an area of 10,000 square meters, includes more than 150 artists and restorers, and has so far produced more than 6,400 copies made of stone, wood, ceramics and even gold and silver.
Among the factory's most expensive masterpieces is a life-size copy of the funeral chair of King Tutankhamun, whose price is 140,000 Egyptian pounds ($8923), in addition to his gold-plated royal mask, which costs 200,000 Egyptian pounds ($12,748).
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities inaugurated the factory in March of this year in the city of Obour, in the Qalyubia Governorate, about 35 km northeast of Cairo.
A statement from the ministry described the factory as the first of its kind in Egypt and the Middle East, adding that the factory was established in response to a local and international request for accurate and detailed reproductions of ancient Egyptian treasures.
The presence of an encrypted digital coding of the patterns (barcode) on each piece means that when scanning this coding with smart phones, it will display information about the antiquity, the materials from which it was made, and the location of the original artifact display.
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