Egypt, inaugurated the National Museum of Sohag

The Sohag National Museum has been inaugurated on the banks of the Nile in the city of Sohag , Egypt, after multiple work stoppages due to disagreements over technical issues of engineering and interior design, as well as lack of funds (costing about €3.5 million). It took twenty-five years to complete the undertaking.

The building is in the shape of two overlapping mastabas, covers 8,000 m² (thus, it is one of the largest museums inUpper Egypt), and houses 945 artifacts divided into 6 sections that illustrate various topics chronologically, from the Predynastic to the Islamic period. The exhibits come from archaeological excavations in the governorate (incidentally, the National Museum represents the first museum opened in Sohag governorate), including many moved from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and, also in the capital, from the Coptic, Textile and Islamic Art museums. Then there are sections illustrating the history of the city of Sohag (one of the oldest in Egypt, famous for its textile industry, and home to several pharaohs of the earliest dynasties) as well as nearby Abydos and Akhmim.

The most important find is a statue of a Sixth Dynasty army commander named Wini, who also represents the first known Egyptian army commander at the time. There are also bas-reliefs of Seti I and a statue of his son Ramses II, as well as a small Persian manuscript that tells the story of Qays ibn Al-Mulawah and Layla (known as the story of Layla and Al-Majnun), a love affair set in eighth-century Arabia. There are also terracotta vases, paintings (including some depicting women and men bathing in the Nile), lamps, ornate textiles, children’s linen clothes, and even a piece of Kiswa fabric (the same one that covers the Kaʿba in Mecca: it is a brocade woven with gold threads and on whose surface Islamic verses are reproduced) and many objects representing the traditions, customs, industry and crafts of the area.

The inauguration was attended by President Abd el-Fattah al-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt, who had the privilege of cutting the ribbon. “The Sohag National Museum,” said Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled el-Enany, on the other hand, “is not just a museum of regional importance: it is part of the national strategy for the development of Upper Egyptian governorates and their resources.” The minister’s idea is to make the Sohag Museum an important cultural and educational hub.

Egypt, inaugurated the National Museum of Sohag

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