Between 1903 and 1937, the archaeological excavations carried out in Egypt by Ernesto Schiaparelli and then by Giulio Farina brought about 30,000 artifacts to the Turin museum.
The museum underwent a first reorganization in 1908 and a second, more important one in 1924, with the official visit of the King. To compensate for the lack of space, Schiaparelli restructured the new wing of the museum, then called the “Schiaparelli Wing.”
The longest papyrus in the world is kept in the Museo Egizio, which displays human mummies, all of which have been analyzed for the Mummy Conservation Project.
Animal mummies are also studied and restored live in the “Restoration Area,” while the statue of Sethy II can be seen in the Gallery of Kings and Ramses II (usurped statue), one of the first Egyptian monuments to reach Turin, discovered by Vitaliano Donati around 1759.
The Road to Menfi and Tebe Leads From Turin – Jean-François Champollion
After an impressive renovation of the museum in recent years, (which cost 50 million euros) the Museo Egizio reopened in 2015 with a modern design.
It contains more than 40,000 artifacts, 4,000 of which are displayed chronologically in 15 rooms spread over 4 floors. The number of visitors doubled with the arrival in 2014 of the director Christian Greco, who is also a frequent guest lecturer in Abu Dhabi, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and the British Museum in London, to name some.
When we visited the Egyptian Museum in August this year, we had the pleasure of being given a short tour by Director Christian Greco, who speaks 5 languages fluently, and has always wanted to be an archaeologist since he was 12 years old and visited Luxor with his mother. He also studied at the University of Leiden (Netherlands) and worked as an archaeologist in Luxor for over 6 years.
My Arab friends were very impressed by the incredible source of artifacts and the mummies, but also by the latest scientific techniques that show mummies without unpacking them and by a very down to earth but worldwide known Museums Director.
Later we joined the “Long Night of the Museum,” which attracted many locals and visitors with free admission to the museum, drinks, and music from an Egyptian disc jockey. Greco wanted to show the Museo Egizio to people who normally never go to a museum and to families who cannot afford it. So,
as we sat there sipping cocktails, we were surprised to see so many people coming, all nicely dressed and in a festive mood, with many families heading straight for the museum. It takes innovative ideas to increase traffic to a museum venue, and one of them was to give a discount on the admission to the Arabic-speaking world.
But in the wake of the approaching bicentennial in 2024, Greco is coming under fire.
A local politician attacking is Christian Greco, Director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin, on a political level, this time coming from the league of the party’s Deputy Secretary, Andrea Crippa, interviewed by “Affari Italiani.” The object of contention is once again that the marketing strategy promoted discounts “for Muslims.”
The 2018 Case
In reality, the discount was for Arab countries and linked to the origin of the museum itself, because all the exhibits come from an Arabic-speaking country. For the director, it was merely a “gesture of dialogue” among the many promotions that are normally made.
But now 5 years later, Crippa recounted, “Greco decided on a discount only for Muslim citizens.”
Crippa continued: “Christian Greco, who has managed Turin’s Egyptian Museum in an ideological and racist manner against Italians and Christian citizens, must be kicked out immediately, so it is better if he makes a gesture of dignity and leaves.”
What Do the Arabs Say?
Egypt is the mother of our culture. This gesture is great and encourages the Arab world to come to Torino and spend money. For sure it will bring many more Arab tourists to Turin as well as visiting Arab students. It is a wonderful gesture. Then again, Turin is only 50 minutes away (on train) from Milan – the Favorite destination for the Gulf region and beyond.
It seems more a comedy, but the only body entitled to revoke or confirm confidence in the Director is the Board of the Egyptian Museum, and the Italian leading Egyptologists do not agree.
The discount to the Arabs is a just compensation. For centuries we have been stealing cultural heritage.
Regarding the controversy, Greco received the solidarity of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities Foundation of Turin, which “unanimously expresses, with absolute conviction, its appreciation for the excellent work carried out since 2014 by its Director Christian Greco.”
“Thanks to his work,” reads a note, “our museum has become a global excellence, with 2 major structural transformation operations, more than 90 collaborations with the world’s leading universities and museum institutions, training and research activities at the highest levels, environmental and financial sustainability, as well as inclusion policies and important economic spin-offs for the city area and beyond. Bearing in mind that, according to Article 9 of our statute, the appointment and dismissal of the director is the sole responsibility of the Board of Directors, we renew our complete trust in Christian Greco and our heartfelt thanks for his extraordinary work.”
The open letter corresponds to practically all the people with expertise in Egyptology in Italy. And, therefore, they are those who, more than others, possess the tools and expertise to make an objective judgement on Christian Greco. Serious scientific curricula, moreover, are all online: just consult Google Scholar or ORCID and compare facts, not chatter. Competences and results are like mathematics – they are not an opinion.
In an interview with Italian media, Christian Greco said:
“I don’t do politics. I devote myself to the ancient and not the contemporary. I am an Egyptologist, and I will remain one even if I have to go and serve cappuccinos in a bar in Porta Nuova.”
This is how the Director of the Egyptian Museum Christian Greco responds when asked about the words of the regional councilor of Fratelli d’Italia Maurizio Marrone, who believes Greco should not be confirmed at the helm of the museum.
“I would like to have my team speak. Today, we have a team of 70 people (when Greco started he had 20 people). We are working for the bicentennial. We move on, the Egyptian Museum moves on. Directors pass, the museum stays here for 200 years.” Greco emphasized:
The Director can be useful, but he is not indispensable, the institution is moving forward.”
“Having this incredible responsibility, I always force myself on the fact that anything is insignificant compared to the life of our objects. These objects have an average life span of 3,500 years. Do you want them to be scared of a director?” he concluded.
Support comes from philologist Luciano Canfora, he writes:
“The discount to the Arabs a just compensation. For centuries we have been stealing cultural goods. Attacks on Greco are a sign of intellectual and civil decadence.
“I have been following the attacks on the Director of the Egyptian Museum in various newspapers and first and foremost in the Turin-based ‘Stampa’ – an ugly sign of intellectual and civil decadence in our not very happy present.
“It is not for me to repeat the obvious that Christian Greco is among the best Egyptologists on a planetary scale. Instead, I feel it is appropriate to add a consideration that I imagine will help dispel misunderstandings that are building up over this matter. I do not take the liberty of interpreting the thoughts of the Director of the Egyptian Museum, but the initiative that is being reproached seems to me very elegant. Suffice it to think that so many of the treasures in our museums of antiquities come from countries from which those treasures were taken.
“Let me give a famous example. The British ambassador to the Ottoman empire, Lord Elgin, was able to plunder the Parthenon marbles, encouraged to do so by the sultan, because England had cynically helped the Ottoman empire against Bonaparte, then general of the French Republic, whose plan was to take Greece away from Turkish rule. Liberal and civilized England preferred to prevent this liberating design, receiving in return a nice haul of cultural goods to display in its museums. These stories should never be forgotten. In the case of Egypt, the nonchalant taking of so much cultural heritage lasted for centuries. Restoring a civilized and cordial relationship is an elegant form of ‘compensation,’” concluded Canfora.”
So let’s see how this political power struggle against Pharaohs and the Director Greco will work out.
In 2024 the Egyptian museum in Turin is celebrating its 200th anniversary, and Turin can only be happy to have one of the best Egyptologists on this planet at the helm of the Museo Egizio.
(eTN): Pharaohs Travel From the Nile to the Po and Arrive at Turin Museum | re-post license | post content
