Seti I ruled Egypt ca. 1314-1304 BC and is well known for his building projects and military campaigns.
His mortuary temple at Abydos contains numerous architectural features - two vast courts, two hypostyle halls, a so called “butchery hall” and two Osiris halls, just to name a few. These contain numerous works of art.
It’s believed that Seti I’s son, Ramesses II, may have finished portions of the temple after his father died.
The temple is built mainly of limestone, although sandstone was used in some areas. The outer courts and there pylons are severely damaged, with little remaining of them.
Its first hypostyle hall was initially decorated with raised reliefs by Seti I. A raised relief is when the figure sticks out a bit from the walls. After Seti I’s death Ramesses II converted them to sunken reliefs and had them repainted.
The second hypostyle hall contains several bas reliefs - the figures are slightly above the surface while the background is completely flat. By Seti I’s death all the reliefs had been carved, although some had yet to be coloured.
The Luxor Museum is a small, purpose-built museum in the Egyptian city of Luxor (ancient Thebes). Inaugurated in 1975, it stands on the corniche, overlooking the west bank of the River Nile in the city centre.
After the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Luxor Museum holds the largest collection of items from Tutankhamun's tomb, KV62, in the world. These include his hunting chariot, and various votive weapons. Other key pieces include 26 well-preserved New Kingdom statues, found buried in a cache at Luxor Temple in 1989, the royal mummies of Ahmose I and Ramesses I, and a calcite double statue of the crocodile god Sobek and pharaoh Amenhotep III. Another major attractions is a reconstruction of one of the walls of Akhenaten's temple at Karnak.
The Luxor Museum features a far smaller collection than the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but this is intentional - the Luxor Museum prides itself on showing a limited number of important pieces in a clear and uncluttered way, with multi-lingual labelling, that does them the best possible justice. The museum is regularly complemented by tourists as presenting a pleasant contrast to the clamour of the over-crowded Egyptian Museum.
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is a long-planned new central museum complex for Cairo and Egypt, intended to replace the Egyptian Museum - founded in 1902 - as the main venue for the country's abundant heritage treasures. It'll be sited on 50 hectares of land in Giza, as a core part of a new master plan for the plateau.
The GEM project began as far back as 1992, but has been slow in coming to fruition - the foundation stone was only laid a decade later, and the museum isn't expected to be opened until as early as mid-2012. It'll be a massive structure once completed - shaped like a chamfered triangle, with a stone roof, the GEM will boast 100,000 square metres of floor space – the size of 11 football pitches – with provision for up to 100,000 artefacts at full capacity. It's expected to cost in the region of $550 million.
Ramesses II was the most celebrated of all Pharaohs, ruling Egypt for 67 years. He is well known for the length of his reign, the numerous temples he built and his military campaigns, such as the battle of Kadesh. This bust, which is one of the largest pieces of Egyptian culture in the British Museum, shows a portrait of the young King wearing the nemes head-dress surmounted by a cobra diadem.
Pi-Ramesses was an Egyptian capital constructed by Ramesses II ca. 1270 BC. The name means “The House of Ramesses Beloved of Amun Great of Victories.” It is located near modern day Qantir, not far from Tell el-Daba (Avaris). Ramses probably built it so that he could be closer to Egyptian territories in Asia.
It was in use for about 200 years, but was abandoned at the time when Egypt was slipping into the Third Intermediate Period, around 1070 BC. The site is vast – at least 10 square kilometres.
The city appears to be referenced in the Book of Exodus which says that the Israelis started out from a city named “Rameses,” - after the Egyptians were forced to let them go.
Ramesses II married the eldest daughter of the Hittite king Hattusili III, creating an alliance between the two civilizations. The alliance seems to have gone beyond marriage and politics. Evidence indicates that Hittite shields were manufactured in the workshops of Pi-Ramesses during this time – possibly with the assistance of Hittite experts.
There were six Ceremonial Chariots discovered in the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62), all dismantled in order to be able to take them down through the narrow corridors. In addition to the discovered chariots were miscellaneous fittings which would have belonged to other chariots.
The chariot was strongly associated with Kings throughout the Ancient Egyptian era, as the Pharaoh would be depicted as the key figure in battles, shooting arrows into the war zone. King Tutankhamun is shown on the Hunting Box in a chariot, firing arrows at Syrians and beasts, and was used by the 18th Dynasty Pharaohs as a powerful war vehicle. The concept of the chariot was first introduced two centuries prior by Hyksos.
The discovery of six chariots in the Tomb of King Tutankhamun was a significant find, as only two others have been found, as well as fragments of chariots discovered in the various tombs of the Valley of the Kings. The State Chariot is made of wood, which was then gessoed and gilded to give it its fine golden finish. The engravings were then impressed on top to complete the decor of the chariot.
Located in the eastern Nile Delta, this site was used as a capital by the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period. They were an Asiatic people who controlled part of Egypt during this time. The site is strategically placed, giving whoever controls it access to the Sinai, Levant and southern Egypt.
It was abandoned for a time, after the Hyksos were driven out of Egypt. It was rebuilt during the 18th dynasty of Egypt. It included three palaces, indicating that it was used by Egyptian royalty.
The most astonishing finds were the Minoan frescoes that decorated two of the palaces. These depict bull-leaping scenes. They are similar in many respects to the frescoes painted at the Palace of Knossos in Crete.
How these frescoes got to Egypt is a mystery. The excavator of the site, Manfred Bietak, has proposed that a Minoan princess got married to a member of the Egyptian royal family. The Minoans sent artists to paint the frescoes as a way to commemorate this wedding.
These small ritual figures portray Tutankhamun riding a papyrus raft, hunting an invisible hippopotamus with a spear or harpoon. They came in a pair and were located along with 32 other ritual figures inside a black resined wooden box in the treasury section of Tut's tomb, KV62, in the Valley of the Kings. Like all of the statuettes found, they are believed to have had a ritual and religious significance. The ancient Egyptians expected them to aid the young pharaoh's passage to the afterlife.
The hippopatmus was considered by the ancient Egyptians to symbolise evil and disorder, because the evil deity Seth - according to Egyptian mythology - transformed himself into a hippo before he was defeated by the god Horus, in a battle in a swamp. Tut is therefore shown restoring order to the Egyptian universe like a golden god, by hunting down the hippo.
Carved from hard wood, and covered with gold leaf, he is shown in highly realistic detail taking a long stride forward, as he prepares to launch his spear. In his other hand is a coiled bronze rope, for capturing the defeated animal. The style of the statuettes reflects trends of the Amarna period - particularly the exaggeration of certain physical features. It has been speculated that they may have originally been created as an image of Tut's father, the "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten, who founded Amarna.
These small statuettes of the famous boy king Tutankhamun astride a panther came in a pair and were located along with 32 other ritual figures inside a black resined wooden box in the treasury section of Tut's tomb, KV62, in the Valley of the Kings. Like all of the statuettes, they are believed to have had a ritual and religious significance. The ancient Egyptians expected them to aid the young pharaoh's passage to the afterlife.
King Tut is carved in immense detail out of hard wood, and covered with gold leaf. In one hand he clutches a long staff, in the other a flail which represents his power. The panther is also skilfully and elegantly rendered, with great realism. It is painted black, as an inhabitant of the underworld.
The statuettes are meant to be interpreted not literally, but symbolically. The panther may represent an allegorical image of the sky, while Tut - resplendent in gold - is perhaps being likened to a sun god. The style of the statuettes reflects certain characteristics of the Amarna style of art - particularly the exaggeration of certain physical features. It has been speculated that they may have originally been created as an image of Tut's father, the "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten, who founded Amarna.
This ibex-shaped unguent container came from the Annex of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The container (ca. 1370-1352 BCE) is carved of a single piece of calcite, with holes in its body for the contents, resting on a low slab of calcite. The opening or mouth of the vessel is on the back of the ibex. The oils that it contained were stolen in one of the robberies of the tomb, shortly after the tomb had been sealed. Real ibex horns were attached to the head, but only one survives. The eyes, inlaid into metal sockets, were formed of glass or crystal, and the details were painted on the underside. The protruding tongue is made of ivory, stained red.
