2025 - Conference: Textile Conservation at the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, Dina Abd Elgawad
Dina’s research on textile conservation at the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo will be presented at two international conferences, one at the 50th anniversary of the Textile Conservation Centre at the University of Glasgow, Scotland and the other at Education and Innovations in Museums Conference, at the King Fahad Culture Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
At each conference Dina will present two different papers under the theme of textile conservation:
1 – Packing of Textile Objects and Responding to Crises post-Sabotage and Destruction inside the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo
2 – Safekeeping of Museum Collections under Low Budget: Using Innovative Display and Storage Methods to Ensure the Sustainability of Archaeological Artefacts, Applied to a Collection of Rare Islamic Textiles at the Museum of Islamic Art
Dina’s research addresses the impact of the bombing that occurred next to the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo in 2014 on the preserved textile collections stored within the archaeological storage room. Most of textile objects in the storage room were preserved between two panels of glass, during the explosion theses panels were broken and the textile objects exposure to different deterioration aspects such as tears, cuts and separations. In response, through collective work between curators, conservators and academic institutions the museum textile collections were preserved and re-displayed again. An effective plan was produced that provides workable guidelines to employees for appropriate responses to disaster.
She also addresses the development of innovative display and storage methods for artefacts using eco-friendly materials that prevent future damage, reduce the cost of restoration processes and materials, save time and effort, and preserve the original condition of the artefacts without altering their chemical properties, ensuring the sustainability of the artefacts for future generations, as recommended by organisations and institutions concerned with museum collection management.
Dina Abd Elgawad is Textile and Carpet Conservator at the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo and received her PhD in Conservation from the Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University.
