The Suez Canal Authority has announced the opening of the Suez Canal Museum at Ismailia to the public for “Free” during its soft opening period starting Wednesday on the occasion of the victory of the tenth of Ramadan.
This comes after the completion of the museum exhibition works for the collectibles and antiquities that amount to approximately 2000 artefacts featured within the museum in 12 halls relating the history of the Canal throughout the ages.
The building dates back to 160 years ago as it was built in 1862 as the first headquarters of the Universal Company of the Maritime Suez Canal, from which the 10-year-long digging process of the Canal was operated from 1859 – 1869.
The SCA ensured the execution of the restoration works of the historical building to restore it to its former state while maintaining its architectural style which combines the Arabic and Islamic features with European elements in its design, in addition to unmasking the original paint colours of the building. This has been in collaboration with the Ministry of Antiquities, the Engineering Center for Archaeology and Environment of the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University and the execution was by the Arab Contractors as the project’s main contractor.
The restoration process of the building and outfitting it into a museum with all the collectibles and antiquities lasted about three years along which the latest restoration techniques and media of museum exhibition were used in a way that matches world-class museums.