Roman and Ptolemaic Tombs Reconstructed and Restored in Alexandria

The Ministry of Antiquities has completed the reconstruction and conservation of El-Wardian tombs no. G990 and no. G989 in Kom El-Shoqafa site in Alexandria. Both tombs were on display in the garden of the Greco-Roman Museum but were dismantled and transferred in 2009 to the Kom El-Shoqafa archaeological site within the project of development and restoration of the museum.

the works were carried out according to scientific methods and using non-invasive materials during the reconstruction.

the reconstruction work of tomb no. G989 began in November 2017 and completed in 2018, while fine restoration work started immediately. A special entrance was then created to facilitate its visiting.

The reconstruction and restoration work in tomb No. G990 began in February 2019 it is now almost completed except the ceiling and the tomb’s front pillars.

the two tombs were part of the Alexandria western cemetery which was known as “the city of the dead”.

Both tombs were discovered by Evaristo Breccia in the Al Wardian site in the first decade of the 20th century, where they were carved in the rock and there walls are decorated with paintings.

In 1952 both tombs were transferred to the Graeco-Roman Museum. Tomb no G990 dates to the Ptolemaic era and consists of a burial chamber with vaulted ceiling showing remains of colours. Its walls are decorated with geometric signs and it has a sarcophagus with headrest.
Tomb no G989 dates back to the Roman Period and its burial chamber has two supporting columns with pillar crown and a semi-circle ceiling.

Comments

The bindweeds of Egypt and their symbolic role for the deceased

http://www.egyptraveluxe.com/cairo_half_day_tour_to_cairo_egyptian_museum.php From the Middle Kingdom until the 18th Dynasty, representations are found of a parasitic bindweed associated with the stems of papyrus, . Its representations increase and refine themselves during the Amarnian period because of the naturalistic leaning to nature; but it is in Ramesside times, and more particularly that of Ramesses II, that the images become more beautiful and most detailed. The plant is frequently attached to the stem of the papyrus, or to bouquets, but being also able to, more rarely, exist separately. After the 20th Dynasty, if the theme persists, the quality of the representations decrease (as do all more representations of nature). This success under the Ramesseses is probably linked with the specific beliefs of that time, and notably the eminent place that the solar cults occupy. The nature of the plant has been under debate a long time ...

what exactly happened to the Sphinx's nose?

The Sphinx's Nose The nose of the Great Sphinx at Giza is made conspicuous by its absence. What happened to it? The popular story is that the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte used the nose for target practice in 1798. Drawings done for La Description de L'Egypte depict a noseless Sphinx. The Sphinx, 1743. In 1737, British traveler Richard Pococke visited Egypt and made a sketch of the Sphinx that was published six years later. The nose is shown intact, but Pococke likely exercised his poetic license by adding it when it was not there (earlier, in 1579, Johannes Helferich had further taken an artist's liberties by depicting the Sphinx with a nose -- and with decidedly female features). Frederick Lewis Norden, an artist and marine architect, also sketched the Sphinx in 1737. His detailed drawings, published in 1755, were more realistic and showed the Sphinx with no nose. It is very unlikely that Norden would omit the nose if it was present. We can conclude that the...

US authorities return eight stolen ancient Egyptian artifacts

US authorities agreed to return eight ancient Egyptian artifacts stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country. Today, upon his arrival from the United States, Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim announced that US authorities agreed to return eight ancient Egyptian artefacts stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country. The objects are to arrive next month. The pieces include the upper part of a painted anthropoid wooden sarcophagus from the Third Intermediate period depicting a face of a woman wea ring a wig decorated with coloured flowers. Two linen mummy wrappings covered with plaster and bearing paintings showing winged amulets pushing the sun disc are also among the artefacts. Hieroglyphic text showing the name and titles of the deceased are also found on the plaster cover. The third piece is a cartonage painted mummy mask from the Third Intermediate period while the fourth and fifth items are Middle Kingdom wooden boats. The other three items are lim...

Search This Blog