EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
fragments preserve part of the great Opet Festival river procession inscribed during the reign of Tutankhamun, specifically the great riverine barge of Khonsu. Missing sections between the fragments were restored with minimal line drawings and the upper part of the brick buttress was faced with stone slabs imitating the original sandstone-block fill of the wall. The Colonnade Hall work served as a prototype for the reconstruction of the Sun Court wall. Here, the wall was structurally stable, but had twice as many fragments to be inserted. In this case the reliefs preserve a depiction of the great barque of Amun-Re and a pile of offerings set up in the court, flanked by figures of Amenhotep III. The barque scene was carved for Amenhotep III, hacked by Akhenaten’s agents, restored by Tutankhamun, appropriated by Horemheb (who erased Tutankhamun’s name and added his own), and finally enlarged by Seti I, who added a restoration inscription. Our restoration work that began in 1986 resumed and was completed in 2010. We are hearing many positive comments from visitors and future work will help to enhance their time in the temple. Due to space constraints, our signage can include only a minimal amount of information, but each displayed piece requires that more complete art-historical information be provided. Therefore, the next phase for the blockyard open-air museum is to create an online catalogue of the displays. As many fragments continue to be unearthed during the excavation of the Sphinx Road and the reconstruction of the Corniche Road, our work at the Luxor temple is far from over; many more fragments need our continued attention to ensure their documentation and survival.
q Hiroko Kariya is Field Conservator of the Luxor Temple Wall Fragment Project. Ray Johnson is Director of the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute of Chicago University. The project, which began in 1995, was initially funded by the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP) which is a grant from USAID (administered by the American Research Center in Egypt). The current work is carried out in partnership with the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and funded by a Robert Willson Challenge to Conserve Our Heritage Grant and the World Monument Fund (WMF). All photographs by Ray Johnson unless otherwise noted.
Construction in December 2009 of the eastern wall of Amenhotep III in the Sun Court of the temple
The Colonnade Hall with the Khonsu barque scene during the construction of the brick buttress
Detail of the reconstructed eastern wall of Amenhotep III’s Sun Court. Photograph: Yarko Kobylecky
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