The Egyptian Agricultural Museum is currently under investigation over multiple violations, most particularly the cultivation of green beans inside the museum.
Mohamed Sobhy, head of the Agricultural Museum, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that neglect over the past few years has resulted in several violations, including employees growing green beans on musem premises.
Though there is ambiguity surrounding how much of an impact these violations have had over the museum’s successes over the past few years, Sobhy admits that the museum is currently suffering from a lack of visitors.
He pointed out that only two people visited the museum on Monday, bringing the total revenue of a museum employing over 200 people, to LE6 on that day.
Despite these figures, Sobhy spoke of the museum’s importance for Egypt. Having been established by King Fouad in 1930, and being one of the first museums of its kind the world over, the museum's grounds are spread over 30 acres and are located in the former palace of Princess Fatma.
This once grand palace turned museum is actually separated into 10 halls including, among others, the Cotton Museum, The Museum of Bread and The Scientific Collections Museum.
The museum covers Egypt's rich agricultural history, from ancient to modern eras. Much of what is interesting to tourists, they say, is the eerie quality of the almost derelic building once occupied by the daughter of an Ottoman ruler, but now scattered with taxidermy.
Sobhy has indicated that plans are in the works to develop the museum in order to attract tourists, both locally and globally, however, green bean cultivation and other violations would need to be addressed before the museum can truly sprout.
