EGYPT: Restoration work begins on damaged antiquities

Feb. 7, 2011 1:38 PM PT

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Restoration work has begun on Egyptian artifacts damaged during anti-government protests, according to news reports from Cairo on Monday.

Zahi Hawass, the country’s head of antiquities, told news organizations that the repairs to 70 objects should take five days. He said steps are also being taken to reopen Egypt’s famed archeological sites, which have been closed to visitors since unrest began two weeks ago.

Looters broke into the Egyptian Museum during protests Jan. 28 in nearby Tahrir Square. Among the items damaged were a statue of King Tutankhamen standing on a panther and a wooden sarcophagus dating back more than 3,000 years, the Associated Press reported.

What were originally thought to be remains of damaged mummies were in fact two skulls that were being used to test a new CT scanner. All of the royal mummies are safe, Hawass said.

The museum is now being guarded by the army.

-- Alexandra Zavis

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Babylon & Beyond

Alexandra Zavis

Alexandra Zavis is a former writer and editor on the Los Angeles Times’ Foreign Desk who has reported from more than 40 countries. She spent a decade with the Associated Press, covering Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other war-torn places. After joining The Times in 2006, she has served as a Baghdad correspondent and as a California reporter covering poverty and veterans issues. She is a recipient of the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Award for distinguished reporting on foreign affairs and was part of teams of reporters awarded the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award for foreign correspondence and APME’s International Perspective Award. She is a graduate of Oxford University and City University in London.

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