“I don’t get to introduce rock stars,” said Art Gallery of Ontario CEO Matthew Teitelbaum.
Well tonight he did.
Forget the critical New Yorker article, the mixed reviews of the new Tut exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, or the fact that local Toronto media largely stayed away from this lecture.
The world’s most well-known Egyptologist completely filled Convocation Hall, with people who had all paid a small admission fee (no more than $18) to hear him speak.
There was a line snaking up Kings College Circle (the street outside the hall) an hour before it even started.
Now, before I get into what Dr. Hawass said, I should say this – I’ve been cursed.
There will never be another archaeologist like Amice Mary Calverley. She was a plane-flying, war-filming, desert-living Egyptologist, who created stunning drawings of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos.
With the onset of World War II she found herself fighting in a propaganda war against the Axis. However, one of the people who edited her Seti work, Egyptologist Hermann Junker, was aiding the Nazis. He did this even as he was still editing Calverley's work!
Born in Chelsea, London, UK in 1896, her drawings, financed by John Rockefeller Jr., were published in four oversized colour volumes. Her drawings were so good that her editors could find hieroglyphic errors made by the ancient Egyptians, but scarcely one made by her.
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They recognized that she had the rare ability to draw an ancient feature without taking any artistic license – she could make an exact copy
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.
Amice Mary Calverley was a Canadian Egyptologist who is best known for her drawings of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos.
Working with her friend Myrtle Broome, she drew full-colour drawings of almost ever feature of the temple. These drawings were published in four oversized volumes, with two other volumes remaining unpublished.
She had no formal education in Egyptology and her break came when she landed a job at the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford. The professors at the museum, include Sir Leonard Woolley, recognized that she a special talent for archaeological drawing. She could copy an ancient drawing exactly, without taking any artistic license.
It took about 10 years of work to complete her drawings at the Temple of Seti. She lived at Abydos for long periods of time. She learned Arabic and learned the customs of the countryside well.
In 1948 she proposed to the Egyptian government that an ethnographic film be shot of life in contemporary Abydos. Her request was denied by the government, who was unhappy with her idea, and she was effectively declared persona non grata in Egypt.
Submitted by Mary Harrsch on Mon, 01/25/2010 - 18:28
When I was asked to select ten of my favourite images from the Flickr photostream of Heritage Key photographer Sandro Vannini, I wasn't sure how I would be able to choose just ten from a collection of images that are each so breathtaking.
However, I discovered that his photostream at present only contains 88 images so my task was a little less daunting. However, they are all such exceptional images I would not even begin to know how to rank them in any particular order so please don't assume I found image number one more pleasing than number 10! Here are my joint top 10 favourite images by Vannini.
Seti I is thought to have ruled over Egypt for between 11 to 15 years, overseeing the most vibrant artistic period in its dynastic history, and so it is fitting that his tomb was one of the most elaborate and beautifully decorated found in the Valley of the Kings. The well preserved tomb was found in 1817 by Giovanni Battista Belzoni, and is the longest discovered so far, stretching to at least 136 metres.
Seti I's reign over Egypt is thought to have lasted between 13 to 20 years, and during this time he opened the kingdom up to trade with foreign nations and committed to the development of construction projects. This led to stability which united the country after the fragile rule of the previous Amarna kings. The sheer number and scale of building projects that Seti I oversaw during his reign would go on to be one of the greatest artistic periods in Egyptian history. One of Seti I's major accomplishment of the era was the completion of the Great Temple of Abydos, known also as the Temple of Seti as regarded as one of the finest temples built in Egypt.
The Antechamber of the Tomb of Seti I (KV17) is a small room which precedes the burial chamber, and features on its tomb walls scenes depicted from the Book of the Dead. The renown photographer in the field of Egyptology, Sandro Vannini took several photographs throughout KV17, including the First Pillared Room which we featured recently. This week we look at the tomb engravings of the Antechamber, and who they depict.
Question – who can completely fill up a cavernous 1,500 seat domed hall on a Saturday night in Toronto?
There will never be another archaeologist like 
When I was asked to select ten of my favourite images from the Flickr photostream of Heritage Key photographer 
The Antechamber of the 
