The Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo was reportedly severely damaged Friday in a series of bombings in the Egyptian city area that killed at least six people.
At approximately 6:30 a.m. in the city, the Associated Press reports, a car bomb exploded next to the city’s police headquarters. The blast damaged the nearby museum, reportedly breaking windows, collapsing ceilings, breaking water pipes, and damaging the facade. Some of the museum’s artifacts were also damaged.
The museum’s current building, which was completed in the early 1900s and designed (according to Wikipedia) by Alfonso Manescalo, reopened in 2010 following a $10–15 million renovation. Mohammed Ibrahim, Egypt’s minister of antiquities, estimates the repair costs from today’s damage would be double that, according to the Los Angeles Times.
While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, the bombings occurred one day before the anniversary of the uprising that began on Jan. 25, 2011, and led to the removal of Hosni Mubarak. As AP notes: “The attacks fueled fears of an increasing militant insurgency in retaliation for the military’s July 3 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the subsequent crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists.”
