Omnia Zaghlol Chehata Abdelgwad

Biography

Omnia is the Museum Deputy for Archaeologists’ Affairs at Alexandria National Museum. Her job is to supervise and coordinate the work of the museum curators, and oversee the smooth day-to-day operations of the museum. Omnia does not settle for just managing, but also participates in all tasks – including opening, closing, explanation, and activities. She is responsible for security tasks, and explaining artifacts to school and university trips. Omnia also supervises departments and activities, follows up on museum activity plans, and coordinates workflow integration between departments. Omnia finds great pleasure in practicing her work as a museum curator.

Previously, Omnia was a Curator at the Alexandria National Museum – where she interpreted the museum’s exhibits for all age groups – using methods tailored to each academic stage, which earned the admiration of visitors.

Omnia also holds lectures and seminars at schools for all educational levels; and participates in giving lectures to specialised university students inside the museum. She has additionally joined the museum’s team organising art workshops for children. Omnia has organised a series of summer lectures for school students on teaching the Hieroglyphic language – which culminated in a presentation of a song in Hieroglyphics, which Omnia performed with the children.

Before this, Omnia was Deputy Director for Archaeological Affairs at Akhenaten Museum, where she was responsible for organising educational activities, selecting artefacts for display, and managing the team at the Akhenaten Museum. Before this, Omnia held the position of Supervisor of the Departments and Administration at Akhenaten Museum, where her responsibilities ranged from organising departmental activities to the planning of programmes with local communities, spreading awareness of archaeology and developing school workshops.

Her museum interests include education, accessibility and collections databases. A strong professional interest is community work and developing sustainable ways of working with the local society and is currently researching The Role of the Museum in Achieving Community Communication with Marginalized Groups, a subject she has written about in the Journal of Museums in the Middle East. Alongside this, she has worked on a summer course which aimed to create job opportunities in heritage for young people, developed a textile craft workshop for women, and organised a series of scientific research lectures for schoolgirls.

Publications:

• Akhenaten’s appeal from Akhetaten “Horizon of the Sun Disk”, Asmaa Hussein Abdelhamed and Omnia Zaghlol Shehatta, Studia Humanitatis Mrongoviensis 2 (2024), International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (ISSN 1507-451 X).
• The Diorama: A Speaking Heritage and a Captivating Museum Display Style. 

At the British Museum
During Omnia’s time on the International Training Programme she spent time in whole group sessions for a detailed overview of all aspects of the Museum’s work, both front of house and behind the scenes. She also spent some time in the department of Egypt and Sudan. She spent her UK partner placement at Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester Museum and Whitworth Art Gallery.

Omnia worked with the ITP 2022 participants to develop a 15-object trail based on a story they wanted to share based around the British Museum collection. The theme of the trail was food and drink and Omnia’s chosen object was the Nebamun tomb painting.

Omnia’s place on the International Training Programme was generously supported by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.