Salvaging Naguib Mahfouz’s Coat After a Successful Restoration Process

The coat's chemical treatment - the coat that was rescued from insects
The coat's chemical treatment - the coat that was rescued from insects
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Salvaging Naguib Mahfouz’s Coat After a Successful Restoration Process

The coat's chemical treatment - the coat that was rescued from insects
The coat's chemical treatment - the coat that was rescued from insects

The restoration of relics is very much like human surgery; it requires high levels of concentration, it’s nerve-wracking, and culminates in joy after the operation is successfully carried out.

A team of experts went through those three stages while restoring the internationally-renowned writer Naguib Mahfouz’s coat. They were able to conduct the first phase of what they described as an “urgent” operation to halt the spoilage of the coat while preserving it pending another operation that will be carried out shortly after museums reopen.

After communications between the Cultural Development Department in the Ministry of Culture which runs the Naguib Mahfouz Museum and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Department of Restoration at the Egyptian Textile Museum was chosen to restore the coat, considering that it is the first museum with that kind of expertise in the Middle East and has a team of experts in dealing with textiles at the museum that dates back to the Pharaonic era. According to Dr. Ashraf Abu al-Yazid, director of the Egyptian Textile Museum, despite being closed to visitors and the hazards of working in these kinds of atmospheres, the restoration team nevertheless decided to head to the Naguib Mahfouz Museum in Tekkeyet Abul-Dahab.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat Al-Yazid said: “The restoration team members at the museum realized the dangers of leaving the coat untreated and the urgent need to act, so they decided to carry out the mission despite the risks of moving and working during the pandemic. The fact that it was the literature Nobel laureate’s coat made them all the more enthusiastic and determined”.

Rasha Chahine, Director of the Department of Restoration at the museum, who leads the team, also told Asharq Al-Awsat that: “Upon inspection, it was confirmed that the coat was infested with moths that had eaten away a small part of the wool. Also, some stains were the result of a salty substance from sweat, as the coat has not been washed since Naguib Mahfouz last wore it. We treated the moth infestation with special chemicals that completely eradicated them and protected it from further infestation. We treated its many types of fabrics with chemicals and coated it with a preservative until we can treat the part of the wool that was spoiled”.

The coat was never displayed before an audience. After being given as a gift to the museum by Hoda, Mahfouz’s daughter, it was transferred from the storage room as part of a new collection of Mahfouz’s personal belongings that formed the nucleus around which the museum was opened in July 2019.

According to Hoda, the coat was a gift from Naguib’s wife.

She told Asharq Al-Awsat:“The coat was a gift from my mother. She had given my sister money to buy it while she was abroad. There was no special occasion for the gift but my father would wear it every winter until he passed away.”



The US Election by Numbers

Clark County Election Workers inspect mail-in ballots for the 2024 Election at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 02 November 2024. (EPA)
Clark County Election Workers inspect mail-in ballots for the 2024 Election at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 02 November 2024. (EPA)
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The US Election by Numbers

Clark County Election Workers inspect mail-in ballots for the 2024 Election at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 02 November 2024. (EPA)
Clark County Election Workers inspect mail-in ballots for the 2024 Election at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 02 November 2024. (EPA)

Swing states, electoral college votes, candidates up and down the ballot, and millions of potential voters: Here is the US election, broken down by numbers.

- Two -

Several independents ran -- and at least one, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, stumbled into a number of eyebrow-raising headlines.

But in the end, the presidential race comes down to a binary choice, with the two candidates from the major parties -- Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump -- seeking to lead a polarized America.

- Five -

November 5 -- Election Day, traditionally held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.

- Seven -

The number of swing states -- those which don't clearly favor one party over the other, meaning they are up for grabs.

Harris and Trump are courting voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, concentrating their campaign efforts there in a push to ensure victory.

In a razor-tight election, just a handful of votes in any of those states could decide the outcome.

- 34 and 435 -

Voters won't just decide the White House occupant on Election Day -- they will also hit refresh on the US Congress.

Thirty-four Senate seats and all 435 spots in the House of Representatives are up for grabs.

In the House, members serve a two-year term. Republicans currently have the majority, and Harris's Democrats will be hoping for a turnaround.

In the Senate, 34 seats out of 100 are available, for a six-year term. Republicans are hoping to overturn the narrow Democratic majority.

- 538 -

Welcome to the Electoral College, the indirect system of universal suffrage that governs presidential elections in the United States.

Each state has a different number of electors -- calculated by adding the number of their elected representatives in the House, which varies according to population, to the number of senators (two per state).

Rural Vermont, for example, has just three electoral votes. Giant California, meanwhile, has 54.

There are 538 electors in total scattered across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. To take the White House, a candidate must win 270 votes.

- 774,000 -

The number of poll workers who made sure the 2020 election ran smoothly, according to the Pew Research Center.

There are three types of election staff in the United States.

The majority are poll workers -- recruited to do things like greet voters, help with languages, set up voting equipment, and verify voter IDs and registrations.

Election officials are elected, hired or appointed to carry out more specialized duties such as training poll workers, according to Pew.

Poll watchers are usually appointed by political parties to observe the ballot count -- expected to be particularly contentious this year, thanks to Trump's refusal to agree to unconditionally accept the result.

Many election workers have already spoken to AFP about the pressure and threats they are receiving ahead of the November 5 vote.

- 75 million -

As of November 2, more than 75 million Americans had voted early, according to a University of Florida database.

Most US states permit in-person voting or mail-in voting to allow people to deal with scheduling conflicts or an inability to cast their ballots on election day itself on November 5.

- 244 million -

The number of Americans who will be eligible to vote in 2024, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

How many of those will actually cast their ballot remains to be seen, of course. But the Pew Research Center says that the midterm elections of 2018 and 2022, and the presidential vote of 2020, produced three of the highest turnouts of their kind seen in the United States in decades.

"About two-thirds (66 percent) of the voting-eligible population turned out for the 2020 presidential election -- the highest rate for any national election since 1900," Pew says on its website.

That translated to nearly 155 million voters, according to the Census Bureau.