We saw in the last article how the idea of safeguarding the Nubian monuments started with the establishment of contacts between Dr. Tharwat Okasha, the Egyptian Minister of Culture and Vittorino Veronese, the Director-General of UNESCO, who suggested Okasha send a letter to the executive board of this UN organization.
As a result of this letter, Okasha was invited to a UNESCO board meeting to present his case. The presentation was sincere enough to gain the support of seven members of the board. Consequently, a decision was taken to assign the general director to contact the Egyptian government and ask them to propose a comprehensive plan for an international campaign for safeguarding the Nubian monuments within six months.
For that purpose, a joint committee between Egypt and UNESCO convened and decided the following four points:
– UNESCO must issue an international appeal for safeguarding the Nubian monuments.
– Egypt has to declare the facilities that will be offered to the participants.
– A call for an international conference of experts within three months.
– UNESCO would send a mission for aerial photographing of the Nubian monuments from the air.
We should not forget that this campaign was a race against time with the construction plan for the Aswan High Dam already well advanced. It was a unique international campaign.
UNESCO made its declaration on March 1960 and formed a board of trustees, with King Gustav VI of Sweden as its honorary president. At the same time, UNESCO had arranged a trip for a group of journalists and other media associates to visit the Nubian land and to see the different temples and sites for themselves.
Parallel to this, Egypt organized a special exhibition entitled “Egyptian Art over 5,000 Years’ to introduce Egyptian civilization to various countries, with a view to getting them to donate to the project.
In the space of three years, this exhibition toured Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom. It was followed by another exhibition entitled ‘The Treasures of King Tutankhamen’, which toured the United States, Japan, Paris and London.
The General Assembly of UNESCO convened in May with one hot item on its agenda, the Nubian campaign.
After much debate over the presentations of different experts, the General Assembly adopted the recommendations that the Director-General should continue efforts to safeguard the Nubian monuments, urging member countries to contribute to the cost of this campaign.
The cost was estimated at amount to US$87 million, with Egypt contributing US$20 million of this.
So the notion that monuments can have universal value had been definitely launched. This campaign led in 1972, to the formation of the UNESCO World Heritage Center.
