News, Giza: Ptolemaic Crown Pillar To Be Transported To The Grand Egyptian Museum

The crown pillar, first discovered in 2009, will undergo restoration before exhibition. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The Tlifting of The Crown

The crown pillar of King Ptolemy I is set to arrive within hours to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Al-Remaya Square from the Delta town of Samanoud, Tarek Tawfik, Supervisor General of the museum, told Ahram Online.

According to Tawfik, the crown is headed to the museum's laboratory for restoration and maintenance procedures before being placed on display within the GEM exhibition.

Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities, explained that the crown pillar was uncovered while ministry representatives monitored the digging for the Samanoud City public hospital in 2009.

The piece was subsequently kept in situ until this week, when the hospital embarked upon the construction of an building extension. The ministry thus decided to relocate the crown to the GEM. Ashmawy told Ahram Online that the crown is probably the top of a pillar from the Ptolemaic gate in Samanoud. The surviving pillar and crown together are 9 meters tall. The crown alone weighs 10 tonnes.

According to Eissa Zida, Director-General of the GEM's first-aid restoration department, a plan was devised in consultation with other experts to remove the crown from the pillar. The decision, intended to ensure the artifact's secure transportation, was made in accordance with the Samanoud antiquities authority, the Ministry of Antiquities' engineering department, and the restoration department at the GEM.

Zida asserted that the team implemented the latest technological and scientific techniques while the lifting, packing, and transporting the crown. King Ptolemy I was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great who ruled Egypt starting in 323 BC, assuming the local title of pharaoh.

Source: Ahram Online

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News: Alexandria’s Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue Not on UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger - Ministry

Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities has released a statement denying reports on social media that Alexandria’s Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue has been placed on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The Jewish Synagogue

Yasmin El-Shazly, the General Supervisor of the Department of International Organisations for Cultural and the International Cooperation, said in the statement that the site was declared endangered by the World Monuments Fund, a non-profit NGO that is not part of UNESCO.

El-Shazly said that according to the rules and regulations of this fund, any person or entity can nominate any archaeological building to be placed on the list of this fund without a scientific study proving that the building is in danger.

“The Egyptian government gives equal importance to all its monuments and heritage sites, whether Ancient Egyptian, Jewish, Coptic or Islamic,” El-Shazly asserted.

El-Shazly said that the Egyptian government has allocated EGP 100 million to finance the restoration of the synagogue, which started in August and will last for eight months. El-Shazly added that this affirms the Egyptian government's keenness to protect and preserve the synagogue as part of Egypt’s heritage and identity.

Waadalah Abul-Ela, the head of the Projects Department at the antiquities ministry, said that the work on the synagogue aims to restore its architecture and fine decorative elements, as well as the lighting and security systems. The Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue is located in Nabi Daniel Street in downtown Alexandria and is the oldest synagogue in the city.

It was originally built in 1354 but was partially destroyed by the Napoleon expedition in 1798 in order to build a defensive wall from the Kom El-Dikka area to the Mediterranean. In 1850, the synagogue was reconstructed with contributions from the royal family.

Source: Ahram Online

New Discovery, Luxor: Coptic Tombstone Unearthed at Sphinxes Avenue in Luxor

The object is carved of limestone and decorated with a cross and Coptic texts. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Egyptian archaeologists in Luxor have stumbled upon a decorative Coptic tombstone buried on the eastern side of the Sphinxes Avenue, under Al-Mathan Bridge. The tombstone is carved of limestone and decorated with a cross and Coptic texts, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online.

The exact date of the object has not yet been ascertained, nor the identity of the deceased. However, Mostafa Al-Saghir, director of the Sphinxes Avenue, said experts are now studying the tombstone find out.

The excavations in the Sphinxes Avenue are part of a Ministry of Antiquities programme to restore the area and transform it into an open-air museum. The avenue was the location for the procession of the Festival of Opet, which included priests, royalty and the pious, who walked from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple. Some 1,350 sphinxes, with human heads and lion bodies, lined the 2,700-metre- long avenue, and many of them have been now been restored.

The avenue was built during the reign of Pharaoh Nectanebo I to replace an earlier one built in the 18th Dynasty, as recorded by Queen Hatshepsut (1502-1482 BC) on the walls of her red chapel in Karnak Temple. Hatshepsut built six chapels dedicated to the god Amun-Re on the route of the avenue during her reign, demonstrating its longevity as a place of religious significance.

Source: Ahram Online 

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Videos: Excerpt From “Amarna” Movie (Aton-Num Exhibition)

Excerpt from one of the movies displayed in Aton-Num exhibition.

Akhenaton and Nefertiti: Digital story of a revolution.

Exhibition from April 4th to 29th, 2016.

Excerpt From “Amarna” Movie (Aton-Num Exhibition) 

About Aton-Num Exhibition Click Here 

News, Cairo: Attempt to Smuggle 19th Century Antiques to Lebanon Foiled By Egyptian Authorities

The Collection Subjected to Smuggling

The Badr City Antiquities Unit of Egypt's Customs Authority foiled an attempt Wednesday night to smuggle a collection of six 19th century porcelain pots and two metal jardinière to Lebanon. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Ahmed Al-Rawi, head of the Seized Antiquities Unit at the Ministry of Antiquities, explained that the items were seized at Badr City's dry land port, confiscated, and sent to the ministry because they fall under the legal category of Egyptian antiquities, which are protected by the Antiquities Law 117 of 1983 and its later amendment in law 3, 2010.

Ahmed Fatouh, Director of the Antiquities Units in Dry Land Ports, said that the collection includes a vase decorated with flora and fauna as well as a rose-colored tea set of five cups, complete with plates and a sugar container, which depict a European woman surrounded by plants.

Director of the Badr Antiquities Unit, Mamdouh Abu Amar, said that also among the confiscated lot were two metal jardinière bearing the monogram of Egypt's King Farouk. Illegally transported antiquities and heritage items are a common find at Egyptian ports.

El-Rawi told Ahram Online that authorities at Cairo International Airport recently seized original scripts for a well-known Egyptian radio program, "Tasali," which aired in the 1970s and 1980s and was presented by famous Egyptian anchor Inas Gohar.

Source: Ahram Online

New Discovery, Sakkara: Head of Queen Ankhnespepy II Statue Discovered in Giza's Saqqara

The Discovered Head of The Queen

The wooden piece, probably depicting sixth-dynasty queen Ankhnespepy II, has been unearthed near her pyramid. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

A French-Swiss archaeological team have unearthed the head of a wooden statute of Queen Ankhnespepy II (6th Dynasty, Old Kingdom, around 2350 BC), near her pyramid in the Saqqara area in Giza.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the head is of almost-human proportions, and is around 30cm high. The ears are decorated with wooden earrings.

Professor Philippe Collombert, the head of the Geneva University mission, said that the head was found in a disturbed layer to the east of the queen's pyramid near the area where the pyramidion was uncovered early this week.

Over the last two weeks, he said, the mission has uncovered the upper part of a granite obelisk that may belong to the queen's funerary temple, as well as the pyramidion of what may be an undiscovered satellite pyramid.

Collombert said that the head is not in good condition and will be subjected to restoration and documentation.

"It is a promising area that could reveal more of its secrets soon," Waziri told Ahram Online, adding that the mission is to continue its excavations in an attempt to discover the satellite pyramid and the rest of her funerary complex and collection.

Source: Ahram Online

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New Discovery, Abu Sir: Parts of A Ramses II Temple Uncovered in Giza's Abusir

Cartouche of Ramesse II. Courtesy of the Czech Institute of Egyptology

The newly uncovered temple in Abusir necropolis helps piece together the activities of Ramses II in the Memphis area. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Parts of a temple to King Ramses II (1213-1279 BC), along with reliefs of solar deities, have been uncovered by an Egyptian-Czech mission during excavation work in Abusir necropolis in the the governorate ofGiza

Mohamed Megahed, deputy to the mission director, told Ahram Online that the temple is located in an area that forms a natural transition between a terrace of the Nile and the floodplain in Abusir. He added that the temple is 32 by 52 metres and behind it was a large forecourt along with two identical and considerably long storage buildings to the right and left side of the complex.

Studies carried out so far, Megahed explained, show that it can be assumed that stone columns lined the side walls of the court, which was enclosed by mud brick walls that were in at least some places painted blue. The rear end of the court, a ramp or staircase leads to an elevated stone sanctuary whose back part was divided into three parallel chambers.

“The remains of this building, which constitutes the very core of the complex, were covered with huge deposits of sand and chips of stone of which many bore fragments of polychrome reliefs,” Professor Mirsolave Barta, director of the Czech mission, told Ahram Online. He pointed out that the fragments not only show the decorative scheme of the sanctuary, but also function to help date the entire complex.

A relief on which is engraved the different titles of King Ramses II was also found, as well as another connected to the cult of solar deities such as Re, Amun and Nekhbet.

“The discovery of the Ramses II temple provides unique evidence on building and religious activities of the king in Memphis area and at the same time shows the permanent status of the cult of sun god Re who was venerated in Abusir since the 5th Dynasty and onwards to the New Kingdom,” Barta asserted.

Source: Ahram Online

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