Near the famous Giza Pyramids around 100 kilometres away, Ashraf al-Sarawi displays papyrus paintings in his large shop, devoid of tourists. "I thank Covid-19 for locking us in our homes and forcing us to improve our business model." "We are trying to think differently so that we can carry on," said the elder Tarakhan, who in 2014 founded a local association for papyrus craftspeople. "At first, we were just selling locally to those who came to us, but after Covid, we thought that we could reach more people, and even foreigners, through the internet," the 30-year-old said. Tarakhan said he was trying to branch out into other papyrus products such as notebooks and sketchbooks.Ī few months ago, his son Mohammed launched an online store to sell their new range. It's what feeds me and my children," he told AFP. Papyrus workshop owner Abdel Mobdi Mussalam, 48, said his staff has dwindled from eight a decade ago to just two. Today, Al-Qaramus has 25 farms trying to make ends meet by selling papyrus, compared to around 500 prior to the revolution, according to farmer and artist Said Tarakhan.Ī woman slices papyrus into thin strips at the workshop in al-Qaramus Khaled DESOUKI AFP The Covid-19 pandemic has further debilitated the sector: Egypt earned just $4 billion in tourist revenues last year, a quarter of what it had anticipated before the global health crisis. Once used by ancient Egyptians as writing paper, local artists now decorate the papyrus with hieroglyphics, Arabic calligraphy and representations from antiquity and nature to create souvenirs for eager visitors.īut tourism in the North African country has taken a battering since its 2011 revolution, and after a Russian airliner was downed by the Islamic State group in 2015.
The village and its surrounds, located about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Cairo, now make up the largest hub of papyrus production in the country, experts in the sector say. In the 1970s, an art teacher in the village of Al-Qaramus taught farmers the millennia-old techniques for transforming the plant into sought-after paper decorated with ornate drawings and text. Lastly, they left them out in the sun to dry! To have more space for writing, drawing, or painting, the ancient Egyptians would paste papyrus sheets together to form larger sheets.In the lush green fields of Egypt's fertile Delta Valley, farmers and artisans are struggling to make a living as they keep alive the Pharaonic-era tradition of making papyrus. The plant’s sticky, glue-like sap held the strips together. Ancient Egyptians took the stem layers from the plant and sliced them into thin strips, just like you did with your brown paper bags! Then, they laid them out in rows, dampened them, and pressed them together into a sheet. Papyrus paper was made from the Cyperus papyrus plant, a common grass-like plant that was native to river banks and marshy areas. How did the ancient Egyptians make papyrus? The word hieroglyphics comes from the Greek word hiero, which means “holy,” and glyphics, which means “writings.” So hieroglyphics means “holy writings.” The ancient Egyptians used these hieroglyphics to record and explain their world and events, all of which were closely intertwined with their religion. Found in the tombs and temples of Ancient Egyptians as far back as 2700 B.C. The papyrus plant needed fresh water or water-saturated earth to grow. Papyrus paper is the first paper in history. From these germs of creation, the Egyptians extracted the material on which they could create and record for millennia.
They also turned the plant into a weaving material for sandals and baskets. The papyrus plant was a symbol of rebirth.
They used it for things like marriage contracts and shopping lists. So they invented a form of writing called hieroglyphics. Egyptians invented papyrus paper at least 5,000 years ago, replacing clay tablets and revolutionizing the written word. The ancient Egyptians thought it was important to write things down. Bring on the history! Why were hieroglyphics created?
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