The Luxor Museum and the proposed Egyptian copyright law
Las Vegas Sun
According to Bill Paulos, a former vice president of the Luxor, the original Luxor team met with Egyptian officials when they designed and built the resort. Hawass, in fact, is credited in old Luxor publicity statements as having been a “consultant” to the original project, but these days both Hawass and Paulos remember it as a more informal role. The Egyptian government also gave the Luxor team a stone from the pyramids to display at the hotel, Paulos said.
“We didn't want to offend anybody, so we showed them what we were doing,” Paulos said. “We did some tourism back and forth, and talked with them on a fairly regular basis over two years. It was a friendly exchange.”
Since then, the iconic hotel has veered away from its Egyptian roots in favor of a more generally luxurious vibe. The Nile River ride was eliminated soon after opening, and MGM Mirage, which acquired Luxor in 2004, began removing much of the Egyptian theme inside the hotel this summer. But there's been no announcement on whether the King Tut exhibit will be removed in conjunction with the makeover.
Hawass said that exhibit, which purports to be meticulously faithful to the original tomb, is likely to fall within the purview of the proposed law -- and require permission and payment -- because of its replication of Egyptian treasures.
A spokesman for MGM Mirage says the companywould abide by the proposed restrictions.
“Zahi Hawass is known throughout the world for his extraordinary efforts to stem the flow of looting and illegal copyrighting of antiquities from Egypt, which has been a major problem, and that's something we greatly respect,” said Alan Feldman, a company vice president. “We try to be very sensitive, and if this law should pass and it should turn out we could do some good for Egypt by making changes as minor as dealing with the replicas in the museum, then we'd make those changes.”
See the above page for the full story.
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