Egyptian-Italian papyrus lab opens Egypt

An Egyptian-Italian conservationists and curators inaugurated a laboratory for restoring and preserving Egyptian-museum-located papyri.

Papyrus, named after the plant (Cyperus papyrus) from which it is made, was first manufactured and used as paper in Egypt as early as the first Egyptian Dynasty (around 3000 BC) and then for well over 4,000 years.

By the time of the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt just over 200 years ago, papyrus, called djet or tjufi by the Ancient Egyptians, had virtually died out, although it continued to thrive in Umm Risha Lake in Wadi Natron, close to the modern-day Cairo Alexandria desert road.

The Italian side has donated 50,000 euros' worth of equipment for the project, as well as providing specialists to train local conservationists in the latest restoration and preservation techniques.

The equipment and assistance is also being used at a second lab in Alexandria, where papyri owned by the city's Graeco-Roman Museum and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina are being restored.