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For a good time, call Egypt's Antiquities Ministry

Egypt has come up with some new uses for some very old venues.

A picture taken on October 16, 2015 in Egyptian capital Cairo, shows the Baron Empain Palace, considered a unique architectural masterpiece and built by the Belgian industrialist, Baron Edouard Empain (1852-1929) who lived in Cairo and developed the East Cairo desert into the populated district known today as Heliopolis. The two-storey Cairo landmark, adorned with Hindu motives and figures, sitting on 2.5 hectares of prime real state land was completed in 1911. AFP PHOTO/ MOHAMED EL-SHAHED        (Photo cre
The Baron Empain Palace, one of the sites that may be rented out to help fund the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, Cairo, Oct. 16, 2015. — MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/Getty Images

CAIRO — Cash-strapped Egypt has devised a new money-making scheme that could have pharaohs rolling over in their sarcophagi.

In an attempt to resurrect its tourism industry and unearth a new source of revenue, Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities will allow social functions — weddings, birthday parties and the like — to be held at archaeological sites beginning Nov. 1.

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