An antiquities restoration worker looks inside the Egyptian National Library and Archives, which was damaged by a car bomb attack targeting the nearby Cairo Security Directorate on Friday, in downtown Cairo January 26, 2014 (Photo: Reuters)
Egypt's antiquities ministry has announced a campaign to immediately begin restoring the Museum of Islamic Arts, badly damaged in a Friday morning bomb blast targeting Cairo's central police headquarters across the street.
At a press conference held Sunday at the museum, Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim announced that the ministry is now carrying out a comprehensive inventory to determine the actual number of damaged objects.
Although no exact number could be determined, Ibrahim said that all the damaged objects can be totally restored.
A team of architects and engineers from Cairo University plans to inspect the museum's structural damages, he said.
The ministry's campaign to restore the museum will be bolstered by a $100,000 grant from UNESCO General Director Irina Bokova, who issued a statement on Friday condemning the bombing and promising to help with the restoration.
A team of international experts is slated to arrive in Egypt by the end of the week to inspect the museum and advise on its restoration.
Ibrahim said that the UNESCO grant should encourage other international organizations to help.
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