Treasures of Behira Governorate abound, museum needed

Beheira Governorate has proved to be one of Egypt's most bountiful areas in Lower Egypt for antiquities. To date, archaeologists have mapped l50 sites that have already yielded valuable artifacts dating back to periods ranging from prehistoric times to the Roman era.

Teams from the Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA) are certain that more treasures await discovery.

Unfortunately, the items that are brought out from the darkness underground too often find their way to the dark recesses of the SCA's Alexandria warehouse, simply because there are no exhibition facilities in Beheira.

The Nile Information Centre sponsored a four-day seminar on Beheira's tourism potential.

Much of the session was devoted to reviewing the many sites of archaeological interest in the province.

The latest discovery was that of a complete housing complex that was built in Roman times in the area now known as Kom Nagi, 35 kilometres from Kafr Al Dawar.

The complex includes a brick-built winery, a water reservoir, of which the sides are covered in plaster tiles, and a huge collection of thin-necked earthenware jars.

At another area known as Delingat, several burial mounds and sarcophagi have been found.

Councillor Asaad Muharram of Beheira Municipality who attended the seminar, said the governorate needs its own museum, since the nearest is at Rashid (Rosetta).

The Rosetta Museum is devoted to a display of statues and paintings of the heroic struggle by the people of that town against the British expeditionary force in l807.

While the villa that houses the museum is of historical interest, it is hardly adequate for archaeological exhibits, Muharram said.

Nile Information Centre director, Abdul Badie Ebeid said that an archaeological museum in Damanhour, the chief town of Beheira, would be an invaluable asset to the community and a boon to education.

The premises of the Al-Nasr Theatre, one of Damanhour's most outstanding examples of fin-de-siecle architecture in the town centre, was proposed for the establishment of the museum.