When Carter and his team found the steps on 4th of
November they had no idea what they lead to and when they cleared the steps and
the corridor they still had no idea if the tomb was going to be empty. That had
happened before. Carter had wired his sponsor once he found the steps and said
he had covered up the tomb awaiting his arrival so whatever lay behind that
wall would be a surprise for both of them. On 22nd November 1922
Howard Carter pushed a light through a breech in the wall that blocked the
entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamen and when asked what he saw by his sponsor
Lord Carnarvon he said ‘wonderful things’. So the celebration yesterday was to commemorate
that event.
We started in the Valley of Kings and all the various
missions were gathered, it was great chatting with them. I was invited by the Hungarian
mission to visit their dig. Much to our combined surprise photos were allowed
and I had my I-phone with me so I took a few photos of the crowd. We had to
wait for the guests of honour, The Minister of Tourism, Minister of
Antiquities, the American Ambassador and the current Lord and Lady Carnarvon.
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| Teresa Bedman, Me, Mohammed Bali, Francisco Martine Valentine |
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| Christian Le Blanc |
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| Hungarian Team |
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| Lady Carnarvon |
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| Francesco Tiradritti |
Then we went into the tomb of Merenptah which had been closed for some years
whilst restoration of the sarcophagi had taken place. You may remember a
lecture a while ago given by Ted Brock when he talked about the work he had
done inside the tomb. I really like the marking in the concrete, that holds
together the restored piece of the originals, so you get a sense of what the entire
piece was like. They have also placed the objects on plinths with lights so you
can view the underside, nice. With the media there with all their heavy duty
professional cameras the rules about no photos was also relaxed inside the
tomb. No flash of course but with cameras today that is not a big issue. I was
snapping away like made. I have put the entire album up on Facebook good and
bad photos
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151287509611072.516206.528791071&type=1&l=5ccaafb27e
but just selected a few here.
Then the group moved to the tomb of Tutankhamen. I haven’t
been inside since 1981 and as they may well close the tomb soon I thought I
ought to as I went down they were interviewing Lord and Lady Carnarvon and I
took the opportunity to say hello to her as we knew each other from when we
worked together on the Carter House restoration. Imagine my pleasure when she
gave me a present, she expected I would be there and had brought me some
Highclere souvenirs. I was over the moon and just wished my grandmother was
still alive to know about it. Imagine being given a present by Lady Carnarvon
in the tomb of Tutankhamen that she had brought especially for you. I think it
was fair to say it was the most special day of my Egyptology life.
I went into the tomb and can you believe it we were allowed
to take photos there as well, stunning so I snapped away. There were some
people working in the tomb and their lights appear in the pictures but I am
sure you don’t mind.
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| Lord and Lady Carnarvon in the tomb of Tutankhamen |
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| Tutankhamen |
In the evening was a do at the Carter House, the first part
was a slide show and speeches by the various dignitaries. Both the American
Ambassador Anne Patterson and Lord and Lady Carnarvon spoke
about tourism. Expressing their hope that their high profile visits showed the
world that Egypt was safe for tourists and people should come and enjoy the
wonders of Luxor. Then there was a 6 course gala dinner which was finished off
with a cake in the shape of Tutankhamen, Lady Carnarvon cut the first slice.
