FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON RECEIVES $545,000 FROM THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION FOR THE GIZA ARCHIVES PROJECT, PHASE II

BOSTON, Mass. (October 4, 2004) – The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) has received a second Giza grant of $545,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for three years of additional Giza Archives Project work. This grant will build on the original Project's four-year foundation, which resulted in the Giza Archives Project Web site (www.mfa.org/giza, or www.gizapyramids.org). The first Giza grant (2000 through 2004) was supported by the Mellon Foundation with an award of $750,000.

The goals of the present award period (2004 through 2007) include the processing of additional Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts, excavation materials, along with preparations for international outreach to collaborate with other institutions with Giza collections. The Web site will also be refined and expanded based on feedback from our scholarly and lay users.

Giza Archives Project staff plan to prepare additional Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition materials for online access, including:

• 4,000 pages of Reisner’s unpublished manuscript for his History of the Giza Necropolis volumes II, III, IV;
• additional maps and plans of the Giza Necropolis;
• modern colored renderings of decorated tomb walls by Harvard–MFA Expedition staff;
• approx. 10,000 line drawings of tomb plans and burial shafts;
• approx. 7,000 line drawings of tomb wall scenes, three-dimensional objects (pottery, sarcophagi, etc.), and architecture;
• packing lists and photographs recording the original expedition shipments to Boston;
• miscellaneous Harvard–MFA Expedition manuscripts, lists, and notebooks directly relating to finds and excavation data;
• 16 unpublished, illustrated Harvard–MFA Expedition field season reports;
• notebooks on color and palaeography at Giza;
• lists and registers of hieroglyphic personal names and titles
• 8,385 color Giza images from expedition work and other sources (1970–present).

The Giza Archives Project Web site ultimately aims to serve scholars as a centralized online repository for all archaeological activity at the Giza Necropolis.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation makes grants on a selective basis to institutions in higher education, in cultural affairs and the performing arts, in population, in conservation and the environment, and in public affairs. While the first Giza grant was awarded from the Museums and Conservation Division, the second Giza grant comes from the Division of Scholarly Communication.

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The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is one of the world's most comprehensive art museums, recognized for the quality and scope of its collection. The Museum's collection is comprised of: Art of the Americas; Art of Europe; Art of Asia, Oceania and Africa; Art of the Ancient World; Prints and Drawings; Contemporary Art; Photographs; Textiles and Costumes; and Musical Instruments. The MFA has an estimated 350,000 objects among its permanent holdings, including a world-famous collection of Egyptian art. For more information, log onto www.mfa.org.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation aids and promotes religious, charitable, scientific, literary, and educational purposes to further the public welfare or tend to promote the well-doing or well-being of mankind. For more information, log onto www.mellon.org.

PR Contact: pr@mfa.org