Antiquities minister leaves Paris back home

Egypt's Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh el Damaty left Paris on Thursday, wrapping up a multi-day trip to France during which he held meetings with top officials.

During the visit, the minister attended the “Osiris, Sunken Mysteries of Egypt” exhibition which was opened by French President Francois Hollande.

Also, he took part in a ceremony that honored late Egyptian actor Omar el Sharif. The event was attended by Egyptian Ambassador in Paris Ehab Badawy along with many French actors and actresses.

Speaking to MENA, the minister said he held meetings with officials from Le Grand Palais exhibition and The Louvre to discuss cooperation and agreements signed with Egypt's museums.

El Damaty reiterated importance of the Osiris' underwater exhibition as the first of its kind to be held since Egypt's January 25 revolution.

The exhibition will illustrate the “legend of Osiris”, the Egyptian god of the afterlife. Osiris, so the legend says, was killed and cut into pieces by his brother Seth. Osiris’ sister-wife Isis reassembled the pieces which led to his resurrection in order to conceive their son Horus. Osiris was therefore worshiped for bringing new life to death, including the circle of vegetation and the flooding of the Nile.

The “legend of Osiris” is one of the great founding myths of ancient Egypt. It was remembered, perpetuated and renewed in the annual celebration of the “Mysteries of Osiris”, one of the great religious ceremonies of ancient Egypt. According to the Decree of Canopus, a stele of 238 B.C., in the Canopic region this ceremony culminated in an annual water procession along the canals between Thonis-Heracleion and the city of Canopus.

"Osiris. Egypt’s Sunken Mysteries” reveals some of the latest discoveries of Franck Goddio and his team from these sites. Celebrations and rituals that were carried out in the utmost secrecy of the temples of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus are presented to the visitors. They are guided through 1,100 square meters to the submerged sites of the two cities and can follow the water procession along the canals.