It just gets better and better

Monuments and archaeological sites on Luxor's east and west banks are undergoing major development, reports Nevine El-Aref

Last Week Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), and Samir Farag, head of Luxor City Supreme Council (LCSC) celebrated the completion of several development projects at archaeological sites on both the east and west banks of the Nile. They also visited other ongoing projects for which the total budget was LE127 million. These projects include the restoration of Howard Carter's rest-house with a view to developing it as a museum, the first phase of the installation of a new lighting system in the Valley of the Kings, a new visitor center at Deir Al-Bahari, and the reopening of the Youssef Abul-Haggag mosque after restoration.

The first leg of the tour to inspect restoration began on the west bank at the mud-brick rest-house that was the residence of the discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb in the early 1900s. Restoration of the house was carried in collaboration with a French team and will be completed in time for the inauguration on 4 November, the day Carter discovered the tomb. Hawass said that to celebrate 86 years since the discovery, a one-day workshop would be held alongside a forum for dialogue surrounding Carter's discovery and subsequent research on the Valley of the Kings.

The rest-house is to be converted into a museum displaying Carter's personal tools, the instruments which he used in excavations and objects from his discoveries in the valley. Black and white photographs show Carter busy at work, removing Tutankhamun's funerary collection from the tomb, welcoming British, Egyptian and Foreign dignitaries during the celebrations at the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb.

Pieces of English furniture illustrating the interior design of the time will be also on show. A visitor center at the forefront of the house will provide visitors with information about Carter himself and the discovery of the tomb of the boy king prior entering the house of the great discoverer. Ali Hilal, head of the projects department at SCA, said the project had cost LE1.121 million over four months.

On his way to the Deir Al-Bahari temple Hawass inspected the wall that will eventually surround the monuments on Luxor's west bank in an attempt to protect it from encroachment by the city's residents. Hawass and Farag officially inaugurated the visitor's center of the Deir Al-Bahari temple, which displays photographs of the temple's paintings and chambers, and a detailed model of the entire site and the buildings constructed by Montuhotep, Tuthmosis II and Hatshepsut. A cafeteria, a bookstore and 52 bazaars have been set up in the centre. The area around Deir Al-Bahari has been developed over the past 15 months at a cost of LE9,850 million. All unlicensed vendors have been removed from around the temple.

On a taf-taf (small train operated with electricity) Hawass and Farag inspected the first trial of the new lighting system that will be installed at every site at Theban so they can be visited at night. Hawass announced that a Spanish grant of 150 million euros would be used to implement a scheme to protect the Tombs of the Nobles on the west bank which, he asserted, could vanish within 100 years if the SCA did not rescue them.

The temple of Deir El-Bahari is one of the greatest and most singular temples in all Egypt in design and decorative elements. It was built of limestone, not sandstone like most of the other funerary temples of the New Kingdom period. It is thought that Senemut, the great architect who built the temple, was inspired in his design by the plan of the neighboring mortuary temple of the 12th-Dynasty King Neb-Hept-Re. The temple was built for the great Queen Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty to commemorate her achievements and to serve as her funerary temple, as well as a sanctuary of the God, Amun-Re.

The mortuary temple itself consists of a forecourt enclosed on three sides by walls, and a terrace on which stands a large, square structure that may represent the primaeval mound that arose from the waters of chaos. As the temple faces east, the structure is likely to be connected with the sun cult of Re and the resurrection of the king.

From the eastern part of the forecourt, an opening called the Bab Al-Hosan (Gate of the Horseman) leads to an underground passage and an unfinished tomb or cenotaph containing a seated statue of the King Ramses II. On the western side, tamarisk and sycamore trees were planted beside the ramp leading up to the terrace. At the back of the forecourt and terrace are colonnades decorated in relief with boat processions, hunts, and scenes showing the king's military achievements.

Statues of the 12th-Dynasty King Senusret III were also found here.

The inner part of the temple was actually cut into the cliff and consists of a peristyle court, a hypostyle hall and an underground passage leading into the tomb itself. The cult of the dead ruler centered on the small shrine cut into the rear of the Hypostyle Hall.

The mastaba -like structure on the terrace is surrounded by a pillared ambulatory along the west wall, where the statue shrines and tombs of several royal wives and daughters were found. These royal princesses were the priestesses of Hathor, one of the main ancient Egyptian funerary deities. Although little remained of the king's own burial, six sarcophagi were retrieved from the tombs of the royal ladies. Each was formed of six slabs held together at the corners by metal braces and carved in sunken relief. The sarcophagus of Queen Kawit, now in the Egyptian Museum, is particularly fine.

The burial shaft and subsequent tunnel descend for 150 meters and end in a burial chamber 45 meters below the court. The chamber contained a shrine that once held the wooden coffin of Nebhepetre Montuhotep. A great, tree-lined court was reached by means of the processional causeway leading up from the valley temple. Beneath the court, a deep shaft was cut which led to unfinished rooms believed to have been intended originally as the king's tomb. A wrapped image of the Pharaoh was discovered in this area by Howard Carter. The temple complex also held six mortuary chapels and shaft tombs built for the Pharaoh's wives and daughters.

The last stop was the inauguration of the Abul-Haggag mosque, built in 1286 to commemorate the Sunni Sheikh Youssef Abul-Haggag.

Although its positioning atop the Pharaonic columns of Luxor temple seems both precarious and invasive, the Mosque of Abul-Haggag must be seen as more than just a coincidental intruder. When the Pharaonic temple was unearthed at a level underneath the mosque in the late 19th century, locals fiercely resisted any attempt to tear it down. For them the geographical position was important, and a new mosque also dedicated to Abul-Haggag has never become very popular.

Abul-Haggag was a sufi sheikh who was born in Damascus but spent the latter half of his 90 years in Luxor. He died here in 1243 AD, but it is believed that the minaret predates him and was built in the 11th century. The mosque itself has been rebuilt many times, and was completely rebuilt in the 19th century. Locals believe the mosque is a particularly important religious place, full of divine blessing.

According to local legend, the mosque bearing Abul-Haggag's name in the temple of Luxor was probably not established by him. However, when a local official decided to rid the ancient temple of this mosque, Abul-Haggag attempted to stop him. The government official nevertheless insisted that it be moved. Just before the mosque was to be torn down, the official woke up one morning to find that he could not move his body, and apparently believing this to be the work of Abul-Haggag, he decided to change his mind about moving the mosque. Ever since then, the people of Luxor have had a special fondness for him and their mosque. His moulid (annual feast) usually takes place in early November.

Sabri Abdel-Aziz, head of ancient Egyptian department at the SCA says the passage of time had taken its toll on the mosque's walls and foundations; cracks had spread all over its walls, and water from the maydaa (water fountain) had leaked into its foundations. Restoration work, which lasted for 14 months at a cost of LE13.4 million, has now been carried out with the aim of recreating the mosque's original features. The cracks have been removed, the foundations consolidated, and the water fountain renovated. The mosque's open court has been developed, and a fire alarm system has been installed. The mosque's dome has also been restored, along with the Pharaonic columns re-used in 1286 to construct the mosque.

Mansour Boraik, head of the SCA's Luxor inspectorate, says that when the restoration project began in 2007 ancient Egyptian columns, lintels and engravings were unearthed. He says studying the hieroglyphic texts on the Pharaonic columns used in the construction of the mosque has revealed an important part of the history of Luxor temple. Among these texts, Boraik says, those featuring Pharaoh Ramses II offering the two obelisks from the Luxor temple façade to the god Amun Re, one of which is now in the Palace de la Concorde in Paris. The second features three statues of Pharaoh Ramses II wearing the white crown, a fact that aborts the theory of some researchers who believe that Ramses II stole all the statues belonging to one of his predecessors, Amenhotep III.

Boreik says the third engraving is in a style of writing used in ancient Egypt called jenography. It shows the sign for Nubia with an elephant underneath it.