Open-air Museum in Karanis, Fayyum, Egypt​

Design and implementation of an open-air museum at the ancient site of Karanis (Kom Aushim) at the edge of the Fayyum Oasis. The work included installation of display platforms and informational signage, as well as conservation of the exhibited pieces transferred to the new display stands. The presented objects are fragments of monumental architectural pieces and stone sculptures from Pharaonic times (primarily Middle and New Kingdoms) that have been transferred to the site from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities’ rescue excavations in Kiman Faris in the modern Fayyum City. This was the site of the ancient Crocodilopolis, and the exhibited pieces are among the few physical remnants of this once prominently important city and its grand temple. The work was done as part of the URU Fayum Project (University of California, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and University of Auckland) under the supervision of the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities. It is funded by the United StatesAmbassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation through the Association for the Urban Development of Islamic Cairo, an Egyptian non-profit NGO. The display is integrated into a wider presentation and management scheme carried out by the American/Dutch/New Zealand team excavating and conserving the site.

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2013 – 2014 (Field work completed in September 2014.)

Location: Kom Aushim, Fayyum Governorate, Egypt

 

Design: Agnieszka Dobrowolska

Technical team: Karim al-Faramawi

Conservation Director: Salem Imbarak

Site Manager: Mahmud al-Badawi