Merenptah temple in Luxor turned into open museum

Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni approved turning the environs of King Merenptah's funerary temple in Luxor into an open museum within the context of a plan by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) to restore tombs and temples.

SCA Secretary-General Gaballah Ali Gaballah said the temple dates back to the era of the 19th Dynasty, the Modern Kingdom, adding the temple is being restored by a joint Egyptian-Swiss mission.

He noted that the walls, pillars and foundations of the temple will be sustained, in addition to a fine restoration of the engravings in the temple and of the dilapidated parts in the Amenhotep III Gate.