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Pharaonic Village
The Pharaonic Village on Jacob's Island offers a theme park-style guide to ancient Egypt. Visitors are taken on a motorised barge through a network of canals, or left to wander among the numerous exhibits - some of which are living.
In converting Jacob Island into a reconstruction of ancient Egypt, Dr Ragab began by planting 5000 trees of different types to screen the island from modern Cairo. He searched the world for plants, seeds and even birds which had flourished in ancient Egypt but were no longer present. The island now includes nine hectares of papyrus.
The village still continues to grow, with new projects and exhibits appearing regularly. Visitors can expect a reconstruction of an Egyptian temple of white stone, complete with its sacred lake - the centrepiece of the park, reconstructed dwellings of craftsmen and farmers, a nobleman's villa, a marketplace and Pharaoh's palace, even a military camp. Many crafts and industries are represented, including pottery and sculpture, weaving and boat building, as well as daily activities of long, long ago.
One of the highlights must be the recently-completed replica of Tutankhamun's tomb, which features copies of the objects still in situ when the tomb was discovered. Using Howard Carter's notes and original photographs, Dr Ragab and his team reproduced the entire tomb, with craftsmen often using the same techniques which were used in ancient times.
Other permanent exhibitions examine Alexander the Great, Coptic Christianity and Islam. A later section is dedicated to one of Egypt's modern heroes, President Gamal Abd el-Nasser, leader of the 1952 revolution for Egyptian independence.
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