<![CDATA[Blog]]> https://egyptianartcenter.com/blog/ EN Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:47:00 +0000 Incomedia WebSite X5 Professional <![CDATA[Ragab Family History]]> imblog

 
For the Ragab family the replica treasures of Tutankhamun was an extenuation of a family business built on antiquity.  Dr. Hassan Ragab and his brother my grandfather Mohammad Ragab brought papyrus paper making back to life after its disappearance for more than one thousand year.
In 1970 Tarek Ragab started working with them on their papyrus paper factory and museum, this job led him to study Egypt's history and spend a lot of time in the Egyptian museum. The Ragab family was the only papyrus paper producer (patent invention) and hold the knowhow for more than ten years until some of our workers and artist started to compete with us, as a result Dr. Ragab thought of the next project and that was the Pharaonic Village, a theme parks were actors and actresses demonstrating the art, craft and daily life of ancient Egyptians.
Tarek Ragab was the CEO and Vice President to the Pharaonic Village
]]> Tue, 01 Nov 2016 10:47:00 GMT https://egyptianartcenter.com/blog/?ragab-family-history https://egyptianartcenter.com/blog/rss/10570x00 <![CDATA[The Second Discovery of Tutankhamun Tomb and Treasures in 1992]]> imblog

 
 
In November 1922 Howard Carter and his sponsor Lord Carnarvon discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt. Seventy years later my father Tarek Ragab and his uncle Dr. Hassan Ragab created an exact replica tomb for Tutankhamun and his treasures. All great ideas must have a mastermind; Tarek Ragab is the mastermind behind the creation of the replica treasures of Tutankhamun. He also established the Egyptian Art Center, first company in the world to display the replica treasures of Tutankhamun worldwide. It is an interesting story.
 
 
 When you open a new tourism project probably the worst thing that could happen is a terrorists group shooting at tourist, and this is how it all started.  Everything was going well on September 1992 for the opening ceremony of king Tutankhamun’s replica tomb that took place at the Pharaonic Village (a theme park in Cairo) many governmental dignitaries were there including the first lady of Egypt Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak. One week later, fanatics shooting at tourist in Upper Egypt, although miles away from Cairo the impact to tourism  was substantial.  "Tarek do you know how much did it cost us to carry on your idea?"  A question from Dr. Hassan Ragab founder of the Pharaonic Village and sponsor for the replica treasures of Tutankhamun. "About five million dollars" Tarek answered. "Now tourist will not come to Egypt for a while, how can we get back our investment?" Dr. Ragab asked?? Tarek answered in confidence "Dear uncle: if tourist will not come to Egypt Tutankhamun will travel to them. We will take our replicas in a tour and display it worldwide”.
]]> Tue, 01 Nov 2016 09:41:00 GMT https://egyptianartcenter.com/blog/?the-second-discovery-of-tutankhamun-tomb-and-treasures-in-1992 https://egyptianartcenter.com/blog/rss/1293x73j <![CDATA[OUR NEW EXHIBIT 2017, THE FACES OF FAYUM]]> imblog

 
Thirty 12” x 18” reproduction panels of the Fayum Oasis Mummy Portraits
 
with replica Mummy Case of Artemidorus
 
“The eyes tempt us to imagine,” the archaeologist John Prag remarks, “that we can literally and figuratively come face to face with the past.” For John Berger, “the Fayum portraits touch us as if they had been painted last month.”
 
Nestled in the fertile Fayum Oasis just south of Cairo and formed of Nile mud carried by the Bahr Yussef tributary, “the waterway of Joseph,” ending at the ancient basin city of Fayum, these classical funerary portrait panels found in tomb cave necropolises were formed by a fusion of Greek encaustic paint, Roman realism, and Egyptian mummifying rituals marking the Greek and Roman occupation of Egypt while ushering the Coptic Period.
 
Painted in Egypt during the Greco-Roman Period and discovered by the pioneers of Egyptology in the late 19th century, these mummy portraits caused a global sensation because of the contemporary artistic style, state of preservation, and unique individual characteristics on display in each portrait.
 
Egyptian egg based tempera paint and Grecian encaustic, heated beeswax mixed with colorful pigments brushed on imported wooden panels (cedar, oak, pine and limewood), mask the faces of the deceased, these likenesses provide us with mysterious portraits originally entwined in the wrappings of the mummified dead to impersonate the individual contained within. Decorated with gold leaf to commemorate bereavement, these portraits were employed by the noble, wealthy and elite, as well as those less fortunate, these unique individuals are adorned with jewels, tiaras and fine fabrics embodying the oldest two-dimensional portraiture in existence.
 
Over 900 panels have been unearthed from the Fayum necropolis, many of the originals residing in such museums as the Louvre in Paris, the British and Petrie Museums in London, the Metropolitan and Brooklyn Museums of New York and the Cairo Museum in Egypt, to mention a few.
 
Meticulously reproduced in the method of the originals and mounted on gallery walls with the Mummy Case of Artemidorus as the plat formed centerpiece, this dazzling array of Fayum portraits affords the viewer an opportunity to gaze directly into the large mysterious eyes and contemplative lifelike expressions featured by the men, women and children of the FACES OF FAYUM, a legacy of the dead left behind for the living.
]]> Sat, 29 Oct 2016 10:49:00 GMT https://egyptianartcenter.com/blog/?our-new-exhibit-2017,-the-faces-of-fayum https://egyptianartcenter.com/blog/rss/201x8656