Culturama ins an interesting example of how we can employ modern technology in the documentation and dissemination of heritage. It is a nine-screen, 180-degree projection system invented and patented five years ago by the Center for Documentation of Cultural and natural Heritage (CULTNAT) in Egypt.
Culturama is used to demonstrate different eras of Egyptian history from the Pharaonic era until the modern times, as well as to highlight the all-time certain architectural, mythological, natural and cultural features of Egypt.
Parallel to the installation of this projection system at CULTNAT in Egypt’s Smart Village, some 30 kilometers outside Cairo, a mobile unit (500 KGs of equipment) was created to reach different parts of the world. This unit travels about twice a year. It has already visited Paris, Berlin, Hong Kong, Geneva, Tokyo, Tunisia, Frankfurt, and Turin. Last month, it was present at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on the occasion of an exhibition held to commemorate the long existing liaison between the UNESCO and Egypt in the field of cultural heritage.
The title of the exhibition was “UNESCO and Egypt”, which occupied a vast area on the ground floor of the UNESCO building, displaying different projects and campaigns that have been jointly carried out by UNESCO and Egypt.
The first and the most important of these was the Nubian Campaign, which started with safeguarding of the two temples at Abu Simbel in the far south of Egypt. In recognition of this, a wall at the exhibition was covered with banners showing the façade of the great temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel.
This campaign, which started in the sixties, was complemented in the 1990s by the construction of the Nubia Museum in Aswan, uniquely characterized by its conformity to the surrounding environment. A special area was dedicated at the exhibition for the display of a large physical model of the museum and its surroundings, a collection of photographs of some of its content, in addition to a virtual visit into it.
The last phase of the Nubian campaign will be the New Museum of the Egyptian Civilization starting from the Ancient Egyptian, to the Graeco-Roman, to the Coptic and Islamic periods.
The museum is expected to be inaugurated in a couple of years. The UNESCO exhibition in Paris also showed a physical model of the museum with displays and photographs of its different phases of construction.
Another part of the exhibition was dedicated to the supporting efforts of the UNESCO in the building of the Grand Egyptian Museum located near the Giza plateau, which is currently under construction. This is estimated to be one of the biggest museums worldwide and it will be devoted to the Pharaonic period. The museum should open its gates in four or five years. A physical model was displayed surrounded by visual and photographic presentation of the design and of the different phases of construction.
A simulation of Cairo’s renowned el·Muezz Ii.Din Allah street, which embraces 33 Islamic monuments, was created in large posters over two long parallel walls to reflect the role of the UNESCO in the restoration process of these historic monuments.
Final part of the exhibition was a large hall dedicated to the Library of Alexandria showing a physical model of the library with different displays in addition to a small theatre of almost 40 seats for the Culturama show.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Koichino Matsuura, the Director-General of UNESCO, as well as Ambassador Shadia Kinawy, the permanent delegate of Egypt to the UNESCO. It was attended by representatives of different delegations to the UNESCO.
