Wafaa El Saddik (also El-Saddik, Arabic: ; born 1950) is an Egyptian

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

, who from 2004 to 2010 was Director General of Cairo's

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...

. She was the first female director of the museum.

Personal life

El Saddik was born in 1950 in the

Nile Delta The Nile Delta (, or simply , ) is the River delta, delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's larger deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the eas ...

region of Egypt. During the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

, her family moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. She studied

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

, and later completed a PhD at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. El Saddik lived and worked in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany for 15 years, during which time she met her husband, an Egyptian who works as a pharmacist. They married in 1989, and have two children. Her sister has been the State Secretary for the Ministry of Water.

Career

Originally El Saddik wished to become a journalist, due to her interest in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

and

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

. She became interested in

after a trip to Thebes and the

Aswan Dam The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatuge D ...

. El Saddik has provided historical tours to world leaders including

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, and

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. He was the longest ...

, as well as former Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat. At the age of 27, El Saddik went to work for the

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, (; ), was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of an ...

exhibition in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, United States. From 2004 to 2010, El Saddik served as Director General of Cairo's

. She was the museum's first female director. As director, El Saddik says that she received numerous politically motivated bids for funding for the museum. El Saddik claimed that the museum created a daily income of around one million

Egyptian pound The Egyptian pound ( ; abbreviations: £, E£, £E, LE, or EGP in Latin alphabet, Latin, and in Arabic script, Arabic, ISO 4217, ISO code: EGP) is the official currency of Egypt. It is divided into 100 piastres, (or qirsh, ; ''plural'' ; abb ...

s, but most of this money was transferred to the central government rather than being spent there. In her book ''Protecting Pharaoh's Treasures'', El Saddik said that she had predicted the

Egyptian revolution of 2011 The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (;), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against ...

, saying that she had believed it would be similar to the Tunisian Revolution. In October 2010, she was chosen by then Egyptian president

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

to select artefacts for an exhibition in Rome. Her choices were later rejected. She was forced into leaving her role at the museum in December 2010, as she had reached retirement age. During the 2011 Egyptian revolution, El Saddik witnessed the

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

of the

and Memphis Museum. She blamed the incident on police officers and guardians of the museum. After the revolution, El Saddik expressed concern over the preservation of Egyptian historical artefacts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saddik, Wafaa Egyptian Egyptologists 20th-century Egyptian historians Egyptian curators Egyptian women curators 1950 births Living people Egyptian Museum Egyptian archaeologists Egyptian women archaeologists Cairo University alumni University of Vienna alumni Egyptian expatriates in Germany Egyptian women historians 21st-century Egyptian historians