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ARCE's USAID-funded Egyptian
Antiquities Development Project (EAP) and Antiquities Development
Project (ADP) seek to preserve sites and monuments that date
from Egypt's earliest history through the late nineteenth century.
The work of the EAP and ADP encompasses a variety of approaches
to the larger purpose of preserving the nation's antiquities:
documentation, conservation, exhibition installation, the renovation
or equipment of conservation facilities, and training.
The projects are staffed by multinational
teams selected through open competition and review by panels
of experts for their proven expertise in conservation and historic
preservation. These teams work closely with the Egyptian Supreme
Council of Antiquities—the agency of the Ministry of Culture
with primary responsibility for the preservation of the nation's
heritage.
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Interior of the
dome of the sabil Mohammed ‘Ali Pasha, Cairo (AD 1819-20).
Photo Patrick Godeau (ARCE)
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Seventy-five threatened archaeological
sites—the bulk of them Chalcolithic, the remainder extending
from the middle and upper Palaeolithic through the Iron Age—were
recorded under this project, which has provided important insights
into human habitation and settlement patterns during Egypt's early
history. The results of the work (Archaeological Investigation
of the Central Sinai, by Frank Eddy, Fred Wendorf, and associates)
were published in 1999 by the University Press of Colorado.
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Work at this important site, whose
enclosure, proto-pyramid, and associated features prefigure the great
pyramid complexes at Saqqara, Meidum, Dahshur, and Giza, has concentrated
on conservation of the monument's mud-brick enclosure (the oldest
known standing brick structure in the world).
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Reconstruction and conservation of a dyad statue
of Amun and Mut in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
This Eighteeth Dynasty statue
of the god Amun and his consort Mut, originally more than three meters
high, was reassembled from over 250 dispersed fragments and mounted
on a steel frame; the project constitutes the first use of this technique
within Egypt for the reconstruction of fragmentary statuary, permitting
additional pieces to be inserted as they are recovered and identified.
Its conservation completed in 1999, the statue group, which originally
stood in the Great Temple of Amun in Karnak, now occupies a prominent
position within the Egyptian Museum.
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Conservation of decorated dynastic
tombs at Hierakonpolis
Conservation work at Hierakonpolis
concentrated on four decorated tombs, which range in date from the
Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom. The project, completed in 2001, included
sealing of fissures to prevent the entry of animals (which had caused
marked deterioration in several of the tombs), tomb clearance, reattachment
of shattered inscriptions, cleaning of wall paintings, detailed plans,
and pre- and post-conservation photography.
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Conservation study of the tomb of Seti I
ARCE has conducted a conditions study
of the tomb of Seti I (KV 17), the wall paintings of which constitute
one of the most remarkable achievements of Egyptian art, evaluating
the tomb's structural stability, the conservation needs of the wall
paintings, and the suitability of the tomb for site presentation.
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Statue of Amun and Mut in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Photo Patrick Godeau
(ARCE), courtesy of the Egyptian Museum |
Reassembly of the stone inner
sarcophagus of Ramesses VI, broken in antiquity and strewn within
the burial chamber of KV 9, is now complete. Most of the over 250 fragments of the sarcophagus were joined and a cast replica of the head form the Brtish Museum has been placed on the lid. Please visit the new project brochure, Conservation of the Sarcophagus of Ramesses VI.
Click here for a PDF version of the brochure. Please visit www.adobe.com for a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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This single-chamber Amarna period
tomb, discovered and excavated in 1907 by Edward Ayrton, was heavily
damaged by periodic flooding; work accomplished under the USAID grant
included conservation of the plaster walls and installation of a permanent
metal door. The project was undertaken and completed in 1996.
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Detail of wall painting in the tomb of Anen (TT 120). Photo Jaroslaw Dobrowolski
(ARCE). |
The tomb of Anen (TT 120) contains
a wall-painting of Tiye and Amenhotep III that is one of the finest
early examples of the Amarna style. The tomb has lain open since
the early part of the twentieth century. The project took measures
to conserve the tomb's paintings and built a case to protect them
and the tomb itself from further damage.
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Work at Luxor Temple has concentrated
on the conservation of decorated blocks originally from the walls
erected by Amenhotep III. Many had been reused in medieval buildings
constructed around the temple and were found during the course of
twentieth-century excavations. Selected blocks will be reinstalled
in the Temple's Sun Court.
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Conservation of the Small Temple
of Amun at Medinet Habu
Work at Medinet Habu includes
conservation of the roof of the Thutmoside temple, cleaning and conservation
of the painted reliefs in the temple's southeastern chamber, infilling
mortar at the bases of the south and east walls in the chamber, and
reassembly of a monumental statue group of Thutmose III and Amun,
fragments of which were found buried in the sanctuary's two central
chambers. Completion of the project will result in an entire temple
precinct that has been cleaned, structurally consolidated, freed from
the immediate threats of salt and water damage, and prepared for visitors.
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A feasibility study was undertaken
and completed in 1998 to preserve the decorated plaster finishes in
the Græco-Roman tombs of Pady-Osiris and Pedubastis at Dakleh
Oasis, which have suffered progressive damage as a result in part
of the pressure of the overlying bedrock. The study includes an engineering
proposal for excavating the bedrock within the tombs and replacing
it with a concrete structure that would alleviate the existing shearing
load of bedrock.
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Conservator Ewa Parandowska restoring
mosaics in the Villa of the Birds, Alexandria. Photo Robert K. Vincent
Jr. (ARCE)
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The in-situ conservation of
these exquisite Roman mosaics has preserved them within their original
context, where they are protected from climatic and mechanical damage
by a specially designed structure. The display allows visitors to
study a group of mosaics that attest to the rich artistic culture
of Roman Alexandria while protecting the works.
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The project was undertaken to
record archaeological information brought to light during excavation
for a USAID-funded groundwater control project in the area. In 2002
work was concentrated near the Ben Ezra Synagogue and within ancient
Babylon's two Roman towers. Major Roman walls, probably from barracks
and storerooms, were found in the area behind the synagogue and near
the fortress walls. Two-meter-deep excavations in the southern Roman
Tower have revealed a circular colonnaded area that has not been seen
for nearly a hundred years.
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Work began in 2002 on the conservation
of three fine mosaics in the Graeco-Roman museum, including a large
hunting scene, a portrait of the Ptolemaic queen Berenike II, and
a small panel depicting the river god Alpheus and the nymph Arethusa.
The project includes construction of a temporary protective structure
within which the conservation work will be undertaken.
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A granite boulder barricade that
permits water to pass through while protecting the structures of a
Byzantine gold-mining settlement in the Eastern Desert from vehicle
incursions has been erected at the site.
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Conservation of wall paintings in the
Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea
In 1999, a team of conservators
completed the cleaning and conservation of a group of magnificent
thirteenth-century wall paintings in the monastery's church; in the
course of the conservation, sixth-century wall paintings were revealed,
as well as important graffiti attesting to the long history of pilgrimage
at the monastery. The results of the conservation were published in
February 2002 by Yale University
Press (Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of
St. Antony at the Red Sea, edited by Elizabeth S. Bolman, with
photographs by Patrick Godeau). Royalties on the sale of the book
are donated to the monastery for maintenance of the church.
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Virgin and Christ Child. Wall
painting in the Monastery of St. Antony at the Red Sea. Photo Patrick
Godeau (ARCE)
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Conservation of the cave church in
the Monastery of St. Paul at the Red Sea
Following documentation of conditions,
a survey, and a study of the structure's stability, the same team
of conservators that undertook the conservation of wall paintings
at the Monastery of St. Antony began work in 2002 on the conservation
of wall paintings within the Cave Church of the Monastery of St. Paul.
Cleaning of the paintings has revealed works that predate the eighteenth-century
cycle of paintings by several centuries. The project is expected to
continue through 2004.
The Monastery of St. Paul,
a guidebook published by ARCE and written by William Lyster, with
photographs by Patrick Godeau, is available through ARCE. All proceeds from the sale of
the guidebook are donated to the monastery.
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After an extensive survey and
documentation effort conducted under the auspices of the Institute
of Coptic Studies, a team of twenty Egyptian and foreign conservators
worked at three different sites: a monastery in the Fayum and two
churches in Old Cairo. As a result of this first phase of work, all
the icons in the Hanging Church have been conserved and many returned
to their original positions in the church.
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Display panels on the history of
a group of churches and monuments in Old Cairo will be installed within
or adjacent to these structures in order to provide information for
visitors to the historic area.
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Adriano Luzi†
test cleaning a wall painting in the Red Monastery. Photo Patrick Godeau
(ARCE)
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An initial period of wall-painting
conservation is being undertaken in 2003 in this fifth-century Coptic
church, with the blessing of the Coptic Orthodox Church and in cooperation
with the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The Red Monastery church
was the heart of a large monastic community, in a region known as
an important center for the ascetic life in the fifth century.
Most of the architecture and
sculpture date to the fifth century, while the paintings exist in
several layers, dating from Late Antiquity to the medieval period.
The sculpture within the church has close ties to late Roman architectural
sculpture, which was commonly painted but has lost its coloration
over the centuries. The church's sanctuary houses remarkably well-preserved
examples of this practice and fine examples of early Christian figurative
art.
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Door of the Torah ark in the Synagogue of Maimonides. Photo
Patrick Godeau (ARCE)
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A conditions assessment of this
synagogue—one of two surviving in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter—was
completed in 1995. The present building, which dates to the nineteenth
century, is in ruinous condition as a result of rising damp. A decision
was taken not to attempt to conserve the relatively modern building
but instead to transfer the synagogue's historically significant furnishings
to another location.
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A conditions assessment of this
synagogue (registered in 1986 without number), the foundations of
which date to the twelfth century AD, was completed in 2001, along
with a plan for its conservation. Future work awaits a feasibility
and design study for ground-water control at the synagogue.
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The Egyptian Antiquities Project has
focused much of its work in the Bab Zuwayla district: Historic Cairo's
southern gate. The area covers some six square kilometers defined
by the city's Fatimid walls, and it contains the largest concentration
of registered historic monuments in the world. Basing its efforts
on the concept of area conservation, where select improvements to
adjacent buildings reinforce one another, attract visitors, further
investment, and ideally lead to the upgrading of an entire area, the
EAP is concentrating on several structures of different periods within
the same urban unit. These include the city gate itself, the zawiya-sabil
of Farag ibn Barquq, the sabil-kuttab of Nafisa al-Bayda’ (as
well as the main facade of its adjoining wakala), the sabil Muhammed
‘Ali Pasha, and buildings down Shari‘ Bab al-Wazir toward
the Citadel: the urban palace Bayt al-Razzaz, and four nineteenth-century
houses.
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The newly cleaned and conserved minarets
of the Mosque of Mu‘ayyad Sheikh atop the Bab Zuwayla, Cairo.
Photo Nairy Hampikian (ARCE)
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A team of researchers from the American University
in Cairo has recorded more than two thousand previously undocumented
inscriptions on historic structures within the Fatimid city. The inscriptions
are being entered into a database, together with previously published
incriptions. We anticipate publishing the database as a CD or DVD-ROM,
which would permit users to search inscriptions by date, monument
number, key words, and location, and provide photographs, full text
of each inscription in both Arabic and English, as well as references
to it in scholarly literature.
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The Cairo Mapping Project
A group of thirty-one 1:500 scale
maps of Historic Cairo, covering an area extending from Bab al-Futuh
and Bab al-Nasr in the north of the city to the Mosque of ibn Tulun
and the Citadel in the south, situates more than eight hundred registered
and unregistered but historically important structures in their urban
context.
The maps constitute the first time since the 1920s that Historic Cairo
has been mapped at this scale, and the first time ever that the plans
of these buildings have been situated within their urban context.
An accompanying catalogue describes each monument and lists references
to it in scholarly literature, as well as accounts of the monument's
conservation history.
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Work on this landmark of Historic
Cairo (monument no. 199 [AD 1092]) included cleaning and conservation
of the minarets of the Mosque of Mu‘ayyad Sheikh, paving of
the gate's upper terrace, and the conservation and re-installation
of the monumental doors of the gate, which now open and close for
the first time in 500 years. Visitor exhibits within the structure
were recently completed, and the monument's restoration was inaugurated
on
14 September by Egypt's minister of culture Farouk Hosni, U.S.
ambassador to Egypt David Welch, and secretary-general of the Supreme
Council of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass.
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Detail of the conserved minbar in the mosque of
al-Salih Tala’i‘. Photo Patrick Godeau (ARCE) |
The second-oldest minbar in Cairo
(AD 1300) was conserved by a group of Egyptian trainees and carpenters,
who cleared away layers of dirt and paint, stabilized cracks using
flexible balsa wood, and preserved the structure from the effects
of rising damp by excavating, drying, and refilling the floor beneath
the minbar and inserting waterproof barriers under the structure's
raised platform. A documentation survey of the mosque itself (monument
no. 110) was undertaken in 1998.
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The zawiya-sabil Farag ibn
Barquq
Work at this small Mamluk building
(monument no. 203 [AD 1408]), which faces the Bab Zuwayla, includes
replacement of the brick-and-mortar roof, conservation of the sabil's
elaborate muqarnas ceiling, and structural reinforcement of
the building's foundations and walls. An innovative horizontal cutting
of the walls and insertion of waterproof material protects the structure
from rising groundwater.
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Bayt Ahmad Katkhuda al-Razzaz
Work was recently completed on
upgrading two rooms as site offices for the SCA, EAP, and other teams
working on future conservation, as well as stabilizing areas of this
180-room palace (monument no. 235), constructed between the late fifteenth
and late eighteenth centuries. Photographic documentation has been
produced and several emergency interventions undertaken, including
restoration of the endangered northern wing of the eastern courtyard
and a wall in a room in the western courtyard. An intrusive air-raid
shelter (dating to the Nasserite period) was removed in 1998.
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Conservation of the sabil-kuttab
Nafisa al-Bayda
Restoration of this late eighteenth-century
sabil and surmounting kuttab (monument no. 358, AD 1796) was completed
in 1998 and included conservation of the late Ottoman structure's
fine marble, woodwork, cast bronze grilles, small finds, as well as
(through a separate grant from the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Cairo)
a painted panel thought to be part of the original building's ceiling.
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The sabil-kuttab Nafisa al-Bayda, Cairo, after conservation.
Photo Francis Dzikowski (ARCE)
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Conservation of the façade
of the wakala Nafisa al-Bayda
Although much of the building
itself is a late nineteenth-century reconstruction, the facade of
the wakala of Nafisa al-Bayda, with its elaborate mashrabiyya windows,
is a registered historic monument (no. 395, AD 1796). The project
seeks to maintain the character of the street by preserving the historic
features of the wakala's facade.
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Conservation of the sabil
Mohammed ‘Ali Pasha (Tusun
Pasha)
The conservation work at one of
two sabil complexes built by Mohammed ‘Ali in memory of his
sons (monument no. 401, AD 1819-20) included reinforcement of the
building's foundations (accomplished through micropiling), re-roofing
of the sabil's dome, conservation of the fine painted interior, and
conservation and re-gilding of the sabil's cast-bronze grilles. Installation
of the first phase of an exhibition (funded by a grant from the Royal
Netherlands Embassy, Cairo) tracing the history of the sabil's distinguished
founder is scheduled for 2003.
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Four nineteenth-century houses
In cooperation with the houses'
residents, the project undertook the rehabilitation of four nineteenth-century
houses located in Shari‘ el-Mahgar in Historic Cairo. The houses—unregistered
but architecturally distinguished structures—represent a significant
period in the history of Cairene domestic architecture. Originally
built as single-family homes, the houses are graced with mashrabiyya
windows and balconies, plaster mouldings, and fine carved stonework.
The survival of these houses, which harmonize with the area's monuments,
is essential to preserving the atmosphere of Historic Cairo.
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After completion of archaeology, survey, photography,
and architectural consolidation, a visitors' center at Quseir Fort
was completed in 1999 to provide historical and cultural information
on the history of the fort and its environs. The protection and display
of the fort – the largest standing cultural monument on the Red
Sea coast – demonstrate the importance of preserving cultural
heritage in the region.
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The Monastery of St. Paul, looking
west toward the Galala plateau. Photo Robert K. Vincent Jr. (ARCE)
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In 1999, a team of conservators completed the cleaning
and conservation of a group of magnificent thirteenth-century wall
painting in the old church at the Monastery of St. Antony ; in the
course of the conservation, a group of sixth-century wall paintings
were revealed, as well as important graffiti attesting to the long
history of pilgrimage at the monastery. The results of the conservation
were published in February 2002 by Yale University
Press (Monastic Visions: Wall Paintings in the Monastery of
St. Antony at the Red Sea, edited by Elizabeth Bolman, with photographs
by Patrick Godeau). Royalties on the sale of the book are donated
to the monastery for maintenance of the church.
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Conservation of the cave church in
the Monastery of St. Paul at the Red Sea
Following documentation of conditions,
a survey, and a study of the structure's stability, the same team
of conservators that undertook the conservation of wall paintings
at the Monastery of St. Antony began work in 2002 on the conservation
of wall paintings within the Cave Church of the Monastery of St. Paul.Cleaning
of the paintings has revealed works that predate the eighteenth-century
cycle of paintings by several centuries. The project is expected to
continue through 2004.
The Monastery of St. Paul,
a guidebook published by ARCE and written by William Lyster, with
photographs by Patrick Godeau, is available through ARCE. All proceeds from the sale of
the guidebook are donated to the monastery.
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The ARCE field school – an on-site archaeological training program
for inspectors of the Supreme Council of Antiquities – recently
completed its fourth season under the direction of Willeke Wendrich,
University of California, Los Angeles. Training was conducted in the
Fayyum at Medinet Wadfa: the Græco-Roman town of Philoteras.
The field school's fifth season, directed by Diana Craig Patch of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (who directed the school's
first three seasons), is scheduled for 2004.
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Staff and students of the ARCE
field school's first season at Mit Rahina (Memphis). Photo Robert K.
Vincent Jr. (ARCE)
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The program provided opportunities
for Egyptian scholars and professionals who administer and manage
Egyptian antiquities museums to attend short- and long-term management
training programs at accredited American institutions.
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A remarkable set of furniture from the
tomb of Hetepheres, the mother of the Fourth Dynasty king Khufu, discovered
by George Reisner in 1925, was encased and is now displayed in one
of the museum's previously closed galleries.
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Two rooms in the Egyptian Museum were
converted into a permanent exhibit for the museum's collection of
pharaonic jewelry, much of which had never been displayed. As part
of the renovation, air-conditioning and directional lighting were
installed. Exhibition cases were specially designed under a US Department
of State grant and built in the museum's workshop.
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Renovation of four rooms in the National
Maritime Museum, Alexandria,
and equipment of a laboratory for submerged artifacts
An adaptive re-use conversion of four
rooms at the National Maritime Museum included the purchase of equipment
for the conservation of artifacts from shipwreck excavations in the
Red Sea, as well as training in the use of specialized conservation
equipment.
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Conservation laboratory and
training at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
In close collaboration with officials at the Egyptian
Museum, plans and equipment and training needs were formulated to
modify the existing conservation laboratory. New equipment has been
purchased to enhance the museum's conservation capabilities, the working
space has been tripled through constuction of a mezzanine and conversion
of previously unused rooms, and a basement room was refurbished for
use as a facility for the nationwide training of SCA conservators.
The renovated laboratory was inaugurated
on 3 August, in a ribbon-cutting attended by SCA secretary-general
Dr. Zahi Hawass, US embassy chargé d'affaires Gordon Gray,
and museum director Dr. Mamdou al-Damaty
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Climate-controlled storage
in the Græco-Roman Museum, Alexandria
The goal of the project is to halt the degradation of
antiquities in Alexandria through by installing climate control in
the storerooms of the Græco-Roman Museum. The project also includes
a short training program in the treatment of the most threatened artifacts
in the museum: the Late Antique limestone architectural elements from
el-Bahnasa (Oxyrhyncus).
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Pest-control netting architectural conservation
The excrement of roosting birds and
bats–a major source of acids and salts–is extremely damaging
to monuments in Egypt. As an alternative to expensive after-the-fact
conservation, this pilot project would install synthetic mesh netting
on a monument in order to prevent pest damage.
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