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Egyptian museum in Italy's Turin re-opens to public after major renovation project

Xinhua, March 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Egyptian Museum in Turin in northern Italy will reopen to the public on Wednesday, after a three-year renovation that allowed for the redoubling of its exhibition space, it was reported Tuesday.

The exhibition space of the new Egyptian Museum would now exceed 9,000 square meters from the previous 4,500.

The "Museo Egizio," entirely dedicated to ancient Egyptian arts and culture, is said to host the world's second largest collection of Egyptian antiquities after Cairo. It features 6,500 objects in its halls, and has further 26,000 artifacts in storage, according to its management.

The major renovation project was worth some 50 million euros (53.77 million U.S. dollars). "This is a new beginning, and our great ambition is now to convert from having one of the world's largest Egyptian collections into becoming the second Egyptian museum in the world," its director Christian Greco told Turin-based La Stampa newspaper.

From April 1 to April 19, a special interactive installation will also allow people from afar to have access to the new collection at the museum through the internet.

The installation was provided by Compagnia di San Paolo, a member of the museum's managing foundation and a major contributor to the renovation project with some 25 million euros.

"By offering people who are not in Turin the chance to take part in the inauguration via the internet is our way of making the reopening of the new Egyptian museum inclusive and accessible," Luca Remmert, chairman of Compagnia di San Paolo, said.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini called the "Museo delle Antichita Egizie" foundation a good example for all of Italy.

"The foundation, which mixes public and private entities, should be a symbol for the entire country," Franceschini said.

"The beautiful conversion of Turin to a capital of culture from an industrial city should also be taken as a reference model by those Italian cities in search of a new vocation," he added.

The Egyptian Museum was established in Turin, which would later become Italy's first capital city, in 1824. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollars). Endit