Zahi Hawass appointed deputy minister of culture
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Dr. Zahi Hawass has been appointed to the position of Deputy Minister of Culture. He will also stay on in his current post as secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), a post he was supposed to be pensioned off this coming May, as he will be 63-years-old.
Hawass has published 15 books in several languages and is credited with unearthing important discoveries at the Pyramids, Saqqara, Fayoum and in the Valley of the Kings. During his tenure as head of the SCA, over 5,000 artifacts have been returned from abroad. In 2006, he was listed on Time magazine’s “100 People Who Shape the World.”
This would give me the opportunity to continue my work, especially the new museums I am building. I would have more time to finish the Akhenaten Museum, the Civilization Museum, the Sohag Museum, the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, and many other museums I want the world to see. I would also have the opportunity to finish the site management plan I began, to preserve pharaonic sites, Jewish synagogues, Coptic churches, and Islamic mosques. However, the most important thing I wish to continue is the training programs I have initiated. I am training the museum personnel, to teach them how to run the new museums. I also want to continue a training program for archaeologists, to teach them about site management, what it means and how they can use it to preserve the sites.
My dream for the coming years is to continue working and especially teaching young people in the SCA how to make good decisions and be assertive, to fill my position. I hope future heads of antiquities can come from within the SCA, where these young people have experience in archaeology and site management, rather than from the University, where they would not gain this valuable experience. This is why I feel that my decision to stay will help me to finish my work and fulfill my dreams.
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