Egypt has stepped up efforts to open a museum to honor its 1988 Nobel Literature Prize laureate Naguib Mahfouz by the end of the year.

The president of the Cultural Development Fund, Ahmed Awad, said in a Sept. 4 press statement that the museum will open in the next 40-50 days, marking a breakthrough in the decadelong delay in opening the museum. Culture Minister Helmy El-Namnam said Aug. 11 that the museum will open on Dec. 11, on the occasion of the 106th birthday of Mahfouz.

Namnam had promised to open the museum in December 2016, in time for the writer’s 105th birthday, but did not deliver. He argued that the delay was due to renovations at Muhammad Bek Abu El Dahab Complex, even though the alternative venue at Beshtak Palace was available. He repeated his promises on Aug. 10, asserting that the museum will open in December.

“The museum will feature Naguib Mahfouz's office, library, awards and medals, and thousands of photos. I have hundreds of photos that I will give to the museum when it opens. It will also include the drafts of his novels as well as sketches of the characters he developed in his novels,” Ahmed Emad al-Aboudi, an author and businessman who was close to Mahfouz, told Al-Monitor on the sidelines of an Aug. 29 symposium titled "Naguib Mahfouz: The Novelist and The Man,” organized by Ruwad al-Zohour Club in Cairo.