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| Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) Administrator Kim Hyun-mo, front left, and Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Mostafa Waziri, front right, pose after signing a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the cultural heritage property management field, at Prince Mahammad Ali Palace in Cairo, Friday (local time). Courtesy of CHA |
By Kim Rahn
The cultural heritage property management authorities of Korea and Egypt have agreed to cooperate in the restoration, excavation and preservation of antiquities, the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) said, Sunday.
The CHA and the Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperation and exchange in cultural heritage property management in Cairo, Friday (local time), on the sidelines of President Moon Jae-in's official visit to the African country.
In talks on the previous day with CHA Administrator Kim Hyun-mo, Mostafa Waziri, the secretary-general of the council, requested CHA's participation in restoring the Ramesseum Temple in Luxor and in the excavation of a temple of Thutmose IV, using Korea's restoration techniques, and the Korean agency accepted.
Under the agreement, the two sides will cooperate in surveying, excavating and restoring archaeological relics, fighting the trafficking of cultural assets, supporting each other's bids for cultural heritage properties to be registered as World Heritage as well as exchanges of specialists in related fields.
The CHA will expand its official development assistance (ODA) to include the restoration of a pylon at the Ramesseum Temple in Luxor and the digitization of Egypt's cultural heritage assets through ODA programs starting in 2023.
It will restore the collapsed pylon and refurbish the entrance. The administration will also help Egypt set up a digital database of historical sites and cultural heritage remains owned by the country's six major museums and research institutes.
The two sides will support each other's efforts to register cultural heritage assets as UNESCO World Heritage, including Korea's bid to have the Gaya Tumuli, a set of seven tumuli sites in southern parts of the country, listed during a World Heritage Committee meeting slated for June.
"The MOU is significant in that we've expanded the regions to which we offer ODA programs in the cultural heritage sector," the CHA said in a press release. "We hope the agreement will help Korea be positioned as a contributor in aid projects in the cultural heritage property sector. We'll continue to improve our ODA programs in it."
