First mosaic museum to be established in Alexandria soon

Alexandria is getting ready this year for a big project under which the first mosaic museum in Egypt and the Middle East will be established.

Mosaic, according to Ahmed Abdul Fatah Director of the Graeco Roman Museum, is the art of forming panels with the use of small segments of coloured stone or glass fixed side by side to form scenes mostly derived from religious stories or legends.

This fine branch of art first emerged in Greece specifically in Macedonia in the fourth century BC. The Romans conveyed the art from Greece and soon Alexandrians in Egypt became infatuated with it and used it to decorate the floors of their houses, temples, theatres and public baths.

Several mosaic panels are currently being restored in preparation for the museum which is to display some 40 pieces unearthed in Alexandria.

According to Mr. Abdul Fatah the oldest piece found in Alexandria is one bearing the picture of a fisherman holding a spear and flanked by a number of legendary animals.

The panel, he said, was found at Champollion street downtown Alexandria at the turn of the 20th century during the implementation of a sewerage project. There are also two distinguished pieces of the Gladiator and The Dog found at the site of Bibliothica Alexderina, which used to be the royal quarter at the Graeco-Roman age. The two panels might have been part of the floor of a royal palace, said Mr. Abdul Fatah.

The mosaic panels could thus give an idea about the legendary city, part of which exists above the ground while the major part still exists underwater and underground carrying with it secrets of bygone ages.