Egypt’s Papyrus Makers Keep Tradition Alive Despite Tourism Slump

The story of Egypt always gives us goosebumps. Pharaohs, Pyramid, Mummies, when we heard each and every word, we feel something mysterious in it. Hieroglyphics and papyrus are also not the exclusion. Two thousand years ago, papyrus was the most popular writing material in the world. Today, modern papyrus is used as a specialty writing material by artists and calligraphers. Papyrus, from which we get the modern word paper, is a writing material made from the papyrus plant, a reed that grows in the marshy areas around the Nile River. Papyrus was used as a writing material as early as 3,000 BC in ancient Egypt and continued to be used to some extent until around 1100 AD.

Now also the word papyrus reminds us of Egypt. Papyrus is the material that helps many people to live. the papyrus-making process is quite interesting as we read it in this article. The art of papyrus making remained dead for a thousand years. During the 20th century, when more and more papyrus texts came to light, scholars began to research how ancient papyrus manufacturing occurred. Two thousand years ago, papyrus making was a booming industry, and papyrus was made by highly skilled craftsmen working with a specially cultivated strain of papyrus that was bred to supply a high-quality writing material. Today, papyrus is formed from wild strains of papyrus, and therefore the manufacturing process is administered on a little scale by the few specialists who prefer to make papyrus.