Sacred galleries under threat
One would hardly imagine that the vast rock-hewn galleries of the Apis tombs at Saqqara would ever suffer from environmental damage but, as Nevine El-Aref learns, their plight is serious and calls for a large-scale rescue operation
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Workers while installing the shields against the ceiling of the Serapeum gallery; Black iron shields installed at one of bull's burial chamber
photos: Nour Sobeih
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Since 1986 one of the main tourist attractions at Saqqara has been closed to the public. No tourists have been able to wander awestruck through the splendid rock-hewn galleries flanked by tomb chambers each with a huge sarcophagus that once held the remains of the sacred Apis bulls. One began to wonder when, if ever, the Serapeum, as it is called, would reopen and it would be possible to meander along its 200 metre-long corridors flanked by 24 vaulted burial chambers.
It seems that the increasing threat to the Apis has become so serious that drastic and immediate action is required. Two weeks ago the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) approved an interim solution and steps were taken to safeguard some of the burial chambers from collapse. Vaulted iron shields were rapidly installed to prop up some of the entrances to the tomb chambers and although this was just the first step towards saving and eventually reopening one of the most important and fascinating historical monuments in Egypt, it has been criticised by local and foreign Egyptologists, engineers and top antiquities officials for being architecturally intrusive.
The Apis tombs are situated on the Saqqara Plateau, in barren desert high above the agricultural land, so one might well wonder how such a site could be undermined by subsoil water. In fact it comes not from the agricultural plain but from the development of modern tourism. Quantities of water have been used to create tourist paths around the Saqqara tombs and the Apis galleries, the infiltration of which has led to serious seepage causing great cracks in the rock, and even, in one part of the Serapeum, a rock fall. As soon as the seriousness of the problem became known, iron supports were installed, which aroused immediate comment -- not all of it positive.
An urgent inspection was carried by Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and a team of experts.
Hawass concluded that the method used to support the rock above the Apis galleries was entirely suitable for its purpose, and that the iron shields would be used in nine of the 24 galleries which were the most seriously undermined.
"Throughout different eras the fragile nature of the rock in which the Serapeum was carved has suffered various stages of deterioration," said Hawass. "But in the 1980s when steps were taken to develop the Saqqara Plateau and paths were laid and a resthouse built with all necessary facilities, the quantity of water used during these operations seeped into the bedrock and caused wide cracks. The rock split in the areas where the Ancient Egyptians dug tombs and one of the most seriously affected happens to be the Serapeum -- the great galleries where the sacred Apis bulls were buried for generations." Hawass added that when the renowned French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette discovered the Apis tombs and subterranean chambers which are positioned at right-angles to them, he used explosives to clear an enormous rock that blocked the entrance to the main gallery. That in itself caused cracks.
Ahmed Abdel Fatah head of Alexandria antiquities said that continuous explosions carried out in Dahshur quarries, located few kilometres far of the Serapeum, caused the unstability of the rock. He asserted that the rockhad moved from its original location.
"The iron shields being installed could easily be removed after restoration and consolidation of the rock should that be carried out and be considered sound enough," he added.
A controversy arose. Two divergent views were presented on the restoration so far carried out. One was to leave the iron shields where they are, the other was to remove them and replace them with steel frames which were as strong as iron but less intrusive. Hassan Fahmy Imam, the engineer in charge of the operation had this to say: "I support the iron shields, which I consider the appropriate method to save the Serapeum from collapse. I refute the suggestion that the rock itself should be consolidated, because it has already absorbed water and is moreover spread throughout the galleries." Iman added that in the early 1950s the then Egyptian Antiquities Organisation carried out major restoration work on the latter plan -- the consolidation of the walls with steel frames -- but that it was a failure. Iman said that according to the international criteria of UNESCO, ICOM and ICOMOS, such shields have been deemed satisfactory in other areas where urgent action was needed because of deterioration.
Supporting the iron shields was Sabri Abdel-Aziz, head of the Ancient Egyptian Department in the SCA, who asserted that earlier restoration in the 1950s had actually increased the fissures on the walls and that the iron shields were appropriate to save further deterioration.
Reiner Stadelmann, the well-known German Egyptologist, voiced another opinion. He said that he was shocked when he saw the vaulted iron shields installed in the Apis tombs. "They can only be regarded as a temporary solution. That is to say, they should not be considered part of the overall restoration plan but merely an instant necessary to stabilise the rock which could then be treated before being removed."
In view of such contrary opinions, Hawass said that he will call on UNESCO to send a team of experts to evaluate the work already carried out and help draw up an overall plan of action for the progressive restoration of the tombs.
