Issue No. 597
Heritage
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1 - 7 August 2002 Issue No. 597 Heritage |
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Dig days:Accompanying the treasures
As we landed in Washington DC to attend the inauguration of the exhibition of Egyptian antiquities, "The Quest for Immortality," some members of our delegation expressed concern about the new airport restrictions. They'd heard that US airport authorities were giving Arabs a difficult time. Our experience proved otherwise, happily, and it was only a few minutes before we stepped outside the airport. I believe that our great ancestor Thutmosis III, whose tomb is replicated in the exhibition, helped ensure us a safe and easy trip, added to which he had arranged for us to stay in the nicest hotel in town. What a treat!
The first evening after our arrival was pleasant. We met with other Egyptians who had come to attend the opening of the exhibition described as the greatest in the United States since that of King Tut 25 years ago. The exhibition is currently showing at the National Gallery in Washington and is scheduled to tour seven cities. King Tut's impressive golden mask captivated the hearts and imaginations of the hundreds of thousands of people in America who attended the exhibition. In fact, some people are still talking about it today.
Thinking about the influence of the King Tut exhibition brings to mind the second major exhibition to travel to America. Back in1988 the "Ramses the Great" exhibition toured 11 cities. I travelled with the exhibition to Dallas and will never forget the week ahead of its opening. While walking in town with Bob Townsend, the director in charge of the exhibition, we stopped a nine-year-old girl and asked her what was "big" in town, and she answered Ramses!
En route to the home of Nabil Fahmi, Egypt's ambassador to the United States, with my two friends, our two prominent writers Anis Mansour and Salama Ahmed Salama, the former, with his usual sense of humour said, "Zahi tell us about this upcoming exhibition before we reach our destination". I told them it was the third major exhibition of ancient Egyptian artefacts to travel to North America; it would visit 12 other cities in addition to Toronto, Canada; it comprised 143 beautiful and well-preserved artefacts that relate to the theme of kingship and the afterlife. I mentioned that the most important object in the display was the statue of Thutmosis III, the king who made 16 military campaigns to Syria and Palestine, and who built seven obelisks, four of which are now in London, Istanbul, Paris and New York.
The exhibition includes wonderful statues of Amenhotep III and his great sage Amenhotep, son of Hapu, and a statue of the architect Senmut, who may have been a lover of Queen Hatshepsut, holding the daughter of his "female pharaoh", the princess Neferure.
Anis Mansour was anxious to know more about Senmut, but because we were approaching our destination, I promised to fill him in later, and instead described the other highlights of the exhibit.
A section, I told them, was devoted to Deir Al-Medina, the workers' village on the Theban necropolis where the artisans who decorated the tombs of pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings worked for generations. One of the most beautiful objects on display is Khonsu's coffin, which was found inside the tomb of the artist Sennedjem. In October, when the exhibition completes its run in Washington, the coffin will be returned to Egypt.
Salama who was listening to my conversation with Anis asked why this was so. I explained that not only is the coffin unique but that it is also made of a fragile wood that would not withstand the strain of travelling for the next five years, but that the United States deserved the opportunity to see the exquisite piece.
Another section of the exhibition is devoted to the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt and traces the journey of the deceased king to the after life. The section includes the replica of the tomb of Thutmosis III that shows texts from The Book of the Dead known among Egyptologists as the Imyduat, which means "That which is in the netherworld". This chronicles the journey through the gates, which represent the 12 hours of night, until the king reaches his destination, life everlasting.
We finally arrived at the residence of Nabil Fahmi and his wife, who studied Egyptology at the Faculty of Tourism in Egypt and become a very successful tour guide. The house is beautiful, the architecture unique and it showcases some small ancient Egyptian artefacts that have been at the residence since before 1952. Ambassador Fahmi is the son of our well-known diplomat Ismail Fahmi, who was the minister of foreign affairs under the late President Anwar El-Sadat. The senior Fahmi resigned his post after the Camp David Agreement.
Anis Mansour and I sat at a table with the ambassador, and two distinguished guests sat to Anis's right, namely, John Fahy, president of the National Geographic Society, and Rusty Powell, president of the National Gallery. John told us about an important show on Egypt that the National Geographic channel will broadcast in September.
To be continued.
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