CAIRO: Over the weekend, calls for increasing Coptic history education in Egyptian schools rang forth from the first Scientific Conference of the Institute of Coptic Studies at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Abbasiya, near downtown Cairo. The conference called on the Egyptian government to buttress the teaching of Coptic history and increase understanding of Coptic monuments in schools and universities across the country.

The committee also recommended “the establishment of departments in colleges in different universities” and called on the government to establish a new center with the focus of reviving Coptic monuments across Egypt, which have been left “to deteriorate” in recent years.

Dr. Atef Naguib, Secretary of the Antiquities Museum in Aswan, said that the governorate “bridged two churches in 1964 and 1965 in Sodi, which is now located under the pavement of the Nile Corniche and was flooded before the construction of the High Dam.” His statements highlights what many Copts in the country are calling the government’s “negligence” against maintaining Egyptian culture and history.

Naguib argued that the government must increase its efforts to help keep Coptic culture alive in the country, especially with the rising sectarianism present in many parts of the country.

“This could be a good way for Muslims and Christians to come together and understand the common history they share,” he added.

Dr. Anthony Suryal said that he has recently discovered monastery in the area Sir in al-Haram near the Giza pyramids, but the monastery  is submerged under the sand. He argued that it “contains valuable frescoes” and expressed concerns that the monastery would meet “the same fate of the church on the Aswan Corniche because there is a proposal to relocate the existing mural paintings after the region becomes under the control of agrarian reform.”

Suryal demanded that the monument be preserved.

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities told Bikya Masr that all efforts are being taken to ensure that Coptic history and its monuments remain “a part of Egyptian society for generations to come.” An official said on Tuesday morning that this conference “was not needed” because the council pushes for all relics and Egyptian history to be maintained at all costs.

“We do our best to create new museums and to excavate new findings. These new discoveries are important and we will take on the task of making them readily available to all segments of society,” the official said.

The conference comes only weeks after Egypt, in a media frenzy, highlighted its restoration of a major Jewish synagogue in Cairo. The revelations left many foreign media reporting that it was an attempt to create positive world opinion toward the election of Culture Minister Farouk Hosni to the top UNESCO position.

Either way, Hosni lost the spot amidst much controversy and has returned to Egypt to resume his duties as minister.

For his part, Dr. Atef Awad, a member of the Department of Archeology at the Coptic Institute, criticized what he called the “negligence of the Supreme Council of Antiquities” over a tomb discovered in Sidi Gaber, Alexandria.

“These tombs were  neglected after it was discovered and became a garbage dump,  and that the supreme council of antiquities did  not  merge it to archaeological campus and there are four other graves belonging to the Greek and Roman eras  that were filled after the discovery,” he said at the conference.

Coptic history, language and education have long been frustrating points of interest for Egypt’s minority group and in recent years, the Coptic Diaspora has demanded the government take a heightened interest in maintaining the first Christian church’s historical legacy in the country.

**reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam

BM

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