Few Egyptians and foreigners might have heard about the village of al-Qaramous in Sharqia, a governorate of the Nile Delta in Egypt.
Nevertheless, the village struggles for recognition as the world’s last remaining papyrus cultivation centre.
An official panel is now preparing the necessary documents to request the inclusion of the village in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Papyrus was used in Egypt for the first time, almost 5,000 years ago.
The ancient Egyptians invented it to – among other things – use in writing and documenting different aspects of their sophisticated civilisation.
Papyrus preserved the ancient Egyptians’ knowledge and scientific heritage over the millennia.
Nevertheless, the use of papyrus was not limited to Egypt of the past.
The same thick material that was made from the pith of the papyrus plant was also used in other countries.
Papyrus was the second most exported commodity in Egypt after linen for a long time in the past.
Sorry to say, papyrus plants ran out in Egypt in the early 1800s.
However, Papyrus seeds were brought back to Egypt from Africa by an art professor in the 1970s.
The same seeds were used in cultivating papyrus in al-Qaramous Village.
Since then, the economy of this village has become totally dependent on the cultivation and production of papyrus.
Ahmed Abdel Hamid al-Nimr, member of the Scientific Office of the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, revealed that Egypt has applied to get support for the papyrus cultivation project in al-Qaramous from UNESCO.
Al-Qaramous, he said, is the oldest site in Egypt for the cultivation of papyrus plants and the making of paper from papyrus.
“The way papyrus plants are grown in the village now is very similar to the way the ancient Egyptians grew it thousands of years ago,” professor al-Nimr said.
He added that a panel of local experts is now trying to register papyrus farms in the village in UNSECO’s heritage list.
Saeed Tarkhan, a farmer from Qarmous, said the village used to be famous for the cultivation and manufacture of sedge nearly 50 years ago, when one of its residents, Anas Moustafa, brought the first seedling to it in the 1970s.
“This gave rise to the cultivation of sedge in the village when Moustafa trained villagers in growing and harvesting this crop,” a local newspaper quoted Tarkhan as saying.
According to him, about 25 farms produce papyrus.
Al-Qarmous farmers, he said, still observe old farming features and techniques, especially when it comes to the production of papyrus.
Tarkhan noted that most of the village’s residents earn a living by selling papyrus to tourists.
Papyrus production in al-Qaramous starts with collecting the stems of the plant from the farms.
Villagers then cut these stems to different sizes and turn them into blocks.
The same blocks are then turned into slices that are placed into layers one on top of the other.
People involved with the production of papyrus then dry the layers in the sun, before producing papers from them.
These papers can then be used in writing or drawing.
Tarkhan said al-Qaramous is probably the world’s last remaining papyrus production place.
Hussein Abdel Baseer, professor of Egyptology and director of the Antiquities Museum at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, said papyrus helped spread and develop writing.
“This was the most prestigious profession in ancient Egypt,” Abdel Baseer said of writing.
“It saved ancient Egyptian records, accounts, decisions and documents,” he told the Egyptian Mail in an interview.
Abdel Baseer said papyrus enjoyed prestige among ancient Egyptians, with most of them using it in decorating their temples.
He added that exquisite patterns of papyrus leaves and flowers were used in decorating the temples.
“Papyrus is ubiquitous in almost all museums in Egypt,” Abdel Baseer said.
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