Taking photos in the Valley of the Kings allowed? Stopping outside photography 'Will be Charged'
It's fair enough not to be allowed to snap away inside the tombs of the Valley of the Kings (unless you're Sandro Vannini , see why here). Flash photography - and that's what you'll need - can have a damaging effect on the delicate tomb paintings, some of which are around 4,000 years old. But jobsworth Egyptian officials denying you a snapshot outside the tombs? According to Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass, that's not on. The SCA boss has come out this week to smash claims his men are forbidding photography outside some of Egypt's biggest attractions including the pyramids, Sphinx and Luxor Temple.
"It is allowed to take pictures for the open monuments area," says Dr Hawass via an Egyptian Culture Ministry statement. He adds that any guide denying open pictures will face charges, as they are a vital part of tourists' memories of Egypt. Dr Hawass will be anxious to curry favour with Egypt's massive tourist population. Just under 13million people visited the country last year, raking in a shade under $11billion (£6.66billion). Global tourist numbers are expected to top one billion people this year, with a revenue of around $1,000billion (£605billion). Egypt's tourist guides don't have the best of reputations, having been known to point people in the wrong direction and demand money for just about anything.
Do you think tourists should pay for photography, wherever they are? Or do you think we should all be able to snap away in and outside tombs for free? Maybe you've got a story about Egyptian tour guides - Have your say at Heritage Key - either via the comments box below, our contact page or by emailing me direct.
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Not really about Egyptian Tour Guides, just about the quality of the horses they rent out... -sighs- Anyway, never experienced any 'photography ban' myself when outside visiting the monuments around Cairo and Alexandria. Is it an 'Upper Egypt' thing? ;)
Firstly, I'd like to point that there is absolutaly no scientific evidence that flash photography is harmful to ancient (or modern) pigments due to the minuscule quantity of light reaching their surfaces. On the contrary, the practice of reflecting sunlight into the tombs by guardians (for baksheesh!) is much more damaging, though still minimal.
What possible justification can there be for banning photography in the Valley?
I now rarely enter the tombs in the Valley (or the Valley itself) since, as a graduate in Egyptology, my main interest is examining the artwork to confirm or refute theories, I need to take photographs as a permanent record for later examination. So Dr. Hawass has lost my entrance fees!
If photographs were available in sufficient detail to permit me to examine closely th artwork in question, I would gladly pay for such publications but this does not appear to be the case (with the exception of Zahi Hawass' excellent recent book "the lost Tombs of Thebes", Which I have bought but which does not, unfortunately cover the V.O.K. tombs).
Not only that but, the last time I was in the Egyptian Museum (in November 2009) , I was prevented (in a panic-stricken manner) by the guardians from illuminating the sides of the Tutankhamun shrines with a pocket lamp to examine the texts more clearly. I cannot understand the logic behind such a reaction. Let us hope that this restriction will not be carried over to the new G.E.M!
Best wishes,
Jim Ashton.
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