The Works of the "Comité de la conservation des Monuments d'Art Arabe" in the Religious Monuments of the Mamlūk Bahrī Period in Cairo from 1299- 1372 A.H. / 1881 -1953 A.D. Volume 1

Abstract

Khedive Mohamed Tawfik Pasha 26 Muharram issued a high decree, in 1299 Hijri, 18 December 1881 A.D., to form a Committee for the Conservation of the Monuments of Arab Artunder supervision of the minister of Charitable Endowmentsand he specified its terms of reference, duties and functions in accordance with the standards established by the Charitable Endowments ministry and in accordance with the criteria approved by the cabinet. In the same year, the Comité's tasks were formed and divided between two sub-committees or commissions, The first commission was to index and list each Arabic monument in Egypt, and the second commission was to inspect these monuments and assess which ones were in need of attention, and then recommend a course of action which sometimes was a complete make over. The Coptic monuments were included in the committee in 1314 Hijri-1896 A.D. In the fifth of Ramadan 1358 Hijri-18th of October 1939, ministerof Education decided to formulate The Supreme Council of Antiquities instead of the Committee of Conservation of the Monuments of Arab Art. This council is considered an extension of the committee. In the year 1372 Hijri-1953 A.D. Egyptian Antiquities Organization was established and included all engineering and technical departments of Egyptian antiquities and the Committee of Conservation of the Monuments of Arab Art. It was decided that this organization would have a high council to supervise its work with two sub-committees: the first committee is the Permanent Committee for Egyptian Antiquities and the second is the Permanent Committee for Arab Monuments thus ending the Committee of the Conservation of the Monuments of Arab Art which was established in 1299 Hijri/1881 A.D.