Friday 31 March 2017

Egypt's Coptic Church praises 'state efforts' to contain sectarian strife in Luxor - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Egypt's Coptic Church praises 'state efforts' to contain sectarian strife in Luxor - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online: Halim praised the efforts of the country's security bodies and several members of parliament in calming the situation.

He also said that most of the Muslim community in the village had cooperated to contain the potential for sectarian strife.

Tuesday 28 March 2017

MS761 27th march taking a laptop in hold luggage experience Egypt to UK

Michael on the roof returned to the UK yesterday. He was on the direct flight from Luxor to Heathrow. He had his laptop with him and this is his experience under the new rules regarding no laptops in cabin luggage.



Highest manual security I have seen anywhere. All laptops in hold baggage, but five separate examination points. Took ages. At one, the laptop had to be taken out, and switched on, and was then examined minutely by some one who seemed to know what he was looking  for. Not a cursory glance, but labels checked, battery removed, checked and
replaced, and my case sealed. ( Sealed so effectively that when I arrived at the UJC I couldn't cut it off, and had to borrow a knife from the kitchen.)




Incidentally, one of the police checkers who had gone back through the reception area was made to go through security again, as was the flight crew.

Thursday 23 March 2017

Queen Tiye statue found



via EEF
"The European Egyptian mission working in King
Amenhotep III funerary temple at Kom Al-Hittan area on Luxor west bank, has
uncovered a beautifully carved statue possibly of Queen Tiye.
Tiye was the wife of king Amenhotep III and grandmother
of the boy king Tutankhamun. The newly discovered statue is carved in alabaster
and uncovered beside the right leg of the lower part of a statue of her husband
King Amenhotep III. Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Khaled El-Enany describes the
queen statue as "beautiful, distinguished and unique." He said that
it is the first time to find an alabaster statue of Queen Tiye inside the
temple as all her previously discovered ones were carved in quartzite. Dr. Hourig
Sourouzian, Head of the mission said that the queen statue was accidentally
discovered while lifting up the lower part of king Amenhotep III colossus. The
Queen statue was found beside the right leg of the king's colossus. Dr.
Sourouzian asserted that the statue is in a very good
conservation condition and it still keeps its ancient colours. Consolidation
work and fine restoration are to be carried out on the statue."
http://www.egyptologyforum.org/bbs/17424811_1365742376804742_295394727689334909_n.jpg

Saturday 11 March 2017

"Sekhmet Omnipresent" 23rd March Luxor -26th

From Facebook Betsy Bryan - "Sekhmet Omnipresent" Betsy Bryan and Hourig...: "Sekhmet Omnipresent"

Betsy Bryan and Hourig Sourouzian announce an international conference, “Sekhmet Omnipresent” to be held in Luxor, Egypt, Thursday, March 23 to Sunday, March 26, 2017 in the Mummification Museum Auditorium. It will be devoted to the imagery and cultic significance of the Sekhmet statues, lions, and lioness deities.



The embarrassment of riches that the field of Egyptology possesses in
the body of Sekhmet statues in Egypt and around the world has been
studied for many decades in a wide variety of monographs and articles.
We hope to explore the current state of such scholarship and link
together those working on artistic and material culture topics with
those working primarily with textual and ritual sources.


Eighteen papers from Egyptian, American, European, and Japanese scholars
before a general and specialized audience will cover topics such as
iconography, cult ritual, archaeological context, and museum display.
On Saturday and Sunday the conference will convene early in the day at
the sites of Kom el Hettan and Mut Temple where large numbers of Sekhmet
statues have been unearthed. This will give participants an opportunity
to spend some time with these statues as they now may be found in situ,
although hardly in their original emplacements. It is expected that the
conference papers will be published in one of several possible series.

The conference will begin at 1:00 pm on Thursday March 23 and at 10 am
to 5:30 pm on Friday, March 24, from 8 am to 5:30 on Saturday, and from
8 am to 1 pm. on Sunday.
The conference will be open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Sekhmet

Omnipresent
MARCH 23-26, 2017
PROGRAMME

1:00 pm Opening ceremonies. Greeting and Introduction of the Minister
of Antiquities by Dr. Hourig Sourouzian and Dr. Betsy M. Bryan

1:15 pm Welcome and remarks by H.E. Khaled El-Enany,
Minister of Antiquities

1:25 pm Dr. Tarek Tawfik, Director-General Grand Egyptian Museum, "Sekhmet & the Statuary of Khafra (Chephren)"



2:15 pm Dr. Nairy Hampikian, Architect Site Manager, The Colossi of
Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project, “The Future of the
Sekhmets Discovered at Kom el-Hettan”

3:05 pm Gerry Scott, Director, American Research Center in Egypt. “Redistribution of Sekhmet Statues”


3:55 pm Ms. Tara Draper-Stumm, University of Exeter, “Exhibits &
Souvenirs: Sekhmet Statues in World Museums and Private Collections”

4:45 pm Discussion: The Display of Sekhmet Statues in Museums and
On-site. Moderator: Dr. Tarek Tawfik

5:30 pm End of day

7:00 pm Reception and Dinner: Location to be announced


Friday March 24 10:00 a.m.


10:00 a.m. Ms. Elena Mora, Conservator and Restorer, “Conservation and
Restoration of Goddess Sekhmet statues in the Amenhotep III Temple”


10:50 a.m. Dr. W. Raymond Johnson, Director, Epigraphic Survey,
University of Chicago Oriental Institute, “Sekhmets of Gold at
Amenhotep III’s Luxor Temple”

11:40 a.m. Mr. Chriastian
Perzlmeier, “Data-base of Sekhmet statues in the temple of Amenhotep III
at Kom el-Hettan until 2015”

12:30 p.m. Lunch – for participants. Location to be announced


2:00 p.m. Mr. Richard A. Fazzini and Ms. Mary McKercher Fazzini, The
Brooklyn Museum Expedition, “Sekhmet statues in the Mut Precinct” &
“Sekhmet Today”

3:30 p.m. Dr. Magda Abdalla, Kafr EL-Sheikh University. TBA

4:20 p.m. Discussion: Moderator, Challenges of the Sekhmet Statuary, Dr. Yasmin El-Shazly, Ministry of Antiquities

5:30 p.m. End of Day

7:00 Dinner for participants. Location to be announced


Saturday, March 25
7:30 Participants take boat launch from Iberotel to west bank

8:00-10:00 a.m. Visit to Kôm el Hettan and visit to Sekhmet statues in
the MOA magazine, with Hourig Sourouzian and other expedition members

10:30 a.m. Dr. Hourig Sourouzian, Director, The Colossi of Memnon and
Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project, “Amenhotep III and Sekhmet at
Kôm el-Hettan
11:20 a.m. Dr. Christian Greco, Director, Museo Egizio, Turin, “Museographic Features of Exhibiting Sekhmet Statues”


12 : 10 p.m. Ms. Silvana Cincotti, Université Paul Valéry -
Montpellier, Institut d'Egyptologie François Daumas, « Bernardino
Drovetti and Jean-Jacques Rifaud in Luxor »
1 :00 p.m. Lunch for participants. Location to be announced

2:15 p.m. Dr. Alessia Amenta, Curator of the Egyptian and Near Eastern
Collections, Musei Vaticani, “Sekhmet Statues in the Vatican Collection”

3 :00 p.m. Dr. Rainer Stadelmann, "From Memphis to Thebes, the protective goddess embracing the king”


3:20 Dr. Vincent Rondot, Conservateur en Chef, Louvre Museum,
“Omnipresent even when she is absent: the stela to the First of the
Seven Arrows of Bastet in Cheikh Labib”

4:10 p.m. Discussion: Moderator, Dr. Vincent Rondot, Musée du Louvre
5:00 p.m. End of Day

7:00 p.m. Dinner for participants. Location to be announced


Sunday, March 26
7:30 Participants leave Iberotel for Temple of Mut

8:00 Visit to Mut Temple with Betsy Bryan


9:30 Dr. Betsy M. Bryan, Professor and Director, Johns Hopkins
University Expedition to the Mut Temple, “Sekhmet and Ritual Revelries
in the Reign of Amenhotep III”

10:20 Dr. Nozomu Kawai, Kanazawa University, “The Lioness goddess statues from the rock-cut chamber at Northwest Saqqara”

11:10 Dr. Sabah Abdelrazek, Director, Egyptian Museum, Cairo, “Sekhmet Statues in the Egyptian Museum”

12:00 p.m. Final Discussion: Moderator, Mr. Vivian Davies, Senior Research Associate, Griffith Institute, Oxford.
1:00 p.m. Close of Conference

Thursday 9 March 2017

No final decision reached on increase in visa fee: Egypt tourism minister - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

No final decision reached on increase in visa fee: Egypt tourism minister - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online: Egypt's Minister of Tourism Yehia Rashed said in an interview with the Russian Ria Novosti news agency that Egypt has not made a final decision regarding whether it will increase fees for entry visas.

Last month, an official source in Cairo airport told Ahram Online that the foreign ministry informed airport security officials that the cost of entry visas would be increased from $25 to $60 starting 1 March.

Days later, the foreign ministry informed its envoys abroad of a cabinet order to postpone the price increase until July.

Wednesday 8 March 2017

66 statues of Pharaonic goddess Sekhmet discovered in Luxor | Egypt Independent

 

66 statues of Pharaonic goddess Sekhmet discovered in Luxor | Egypt Independent: Since the beginning of the year, the German archaeological mission operating at the King Amenhotep III Temple area in Luxor has discovered parts from 66 statues of the Pharaonic goddess Sekhmet, the Antiquities Ministry's official Facebook page reported on Wednesday.

Thursday 2 March 2017

Tourist entrance fees to increase at museums, archaeological sites in October: ministry | Egypt Independent

Tourist entrance fees to increase at museums, archaeological sites in October: ministry | Egypt Independent



Ticket prices at the pyramids will be
raised from LE80 to LE120, the Valley of the Kings in Luxor from LE100
to LE160, the Egyptian museum from LE75 to LE120, Abu Simbel temple from
LE100 to LE160, and Kom Ombo temple from LE40 to LE80.