At 6.30 pm today the Egyptian Museum of Turin closes its doors to visitors for just over a month, for one of the most complex phases of the works for its enrichment. A stage that has been planned for some time, up to and including 11 July, in the year of the bicentenary of the museum which will be celebrated for two days, in November, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.
What is currently at the forefront is above all the issue of the expiry of mandates, which is staggered in time: the president of the Foundation of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Evelina Christillin, expires at the end of November 2024, the board of directors in September 2025; finally the director – Christian Greco for ten years – in June 2025. A misalignment between the president and the board of directors, on which the members of the Foundation, the Piedmont Region, the City of Turin, the Compagnia di San Paolo and the Crt Foundation intervened, to ask an extension of Evelina Christillin’s mandate. They did so with a letter sent a few weeks ago to Minister Sangiuliano asking to confirm it until September 2025, when all the works on the Egizio in Turin are expected to be completed.
The appointment of the president of the Foundation of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, in fact, is the responsibility of the Minister of Culture, while the other members of the board of directors are indicated by the founding members.
Evelina Christillin herself, in office since 2012 and in her third term, was the architect of the contacts and agreements with the private sponsors who bring the most significant part of the sums necessary for the enrichment works of the Egyptian, equal to 23 million euros.
The fourth mandate of the current president is admitted, but the minister would like discontinuity and would therefore be in favor of a change in the leadership of the institution.
“None of us are attached to the chair, but we have put our heart and soul into these works and also a lot of our money, all the savings from previous years. We would like, beyond all the political decisions that do not concern us, be in a position to finish this special project”, Evelina Christillin said in recent days.
From tomorrow the Egyptian will be a construction site, reopening on the weekend of 12-13 July, when visits will be free.
Reservations are expected to start at the beginning of July.
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