Opening ceremony of another part of the Temple of Hatshepsut

Opening ceremony of the Solar Cult Complex in the temple of Hatshepsut, reconstructed by the Poles, was held on Sunday, February 22 - reported the University of Warsaw on its website.

Temple of Hatshepsut is considered one of the most original and picturesque structures of its kind in Egypt. It is one of the main tourist attractions within the Theban necropolis near Luxor. It was built in the fifteenth century BC beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari, in honor of one of the few women who ruled Egypt. The building, partly carved in rock, consists of three terraces connected by ramps and topped with porticos.

Polish work on the reconstruction of the Upper Terrace of Hatshepsut’s temple started in the 1960s, under the supervision of Prof. Kazimierz Michałowski. Currently, the mission is headed by Dr. Zbigniew Szafrański.

Joint, interdisciplinary work of several generations of archaeologists, conservators and architects allowed to reconstruct the Upper Terrace, which includes now opened for tourism rooms of the Solar Cult Complex. Polish achievements include restoration of the original appearance of this part of the temple, determining the function of its premises, as well as an explanation of the chronology of their creation. "There was also an attempt to reconstruct the original appearance of the courtyard of the Solar Altar. It is believed there could be a sacrificial table and two obelisks" - reads the release sent to PAP.

Solar Cult Complex is a group of rooms located in the northern part of the Upper Terrace, which consists of the Night Sun Chapel, Solar Altar Court and the Anubis Shrine. As the researchers explain, this it the place of worship of Amun-Ra, as well as Ra- Horachty and Atum-Amun - representing two other aspects of the solar god. Night Sun Chapel is located in the eastern part of the complex, reflecting the idea of the resurrection of the sun on the eastern horizon after an overnight journey by barge through the Underworld. Sculptural decoration of the chapel illustrated the overnight journey. The altar, according to Egyptian custom, is located in the courtyard under the open sky, so that the life-giving rays can reach it without hindrance. The priests would walk up the stairs to the top of the altar to offer sacrifice to the Sun - the researchers believe.

The official organizer of the opening ceremony was the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities in cooperation with the PCMA Research Centre in Cairo and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland. Due to the significance of the monument for World Heritage and the status of the event, Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities and Heritage Dr. Mamdouh Eldamaty announced his participation in the event, as did Prime Minister of the Government of Egypt, the Minister of Tourism and the governor of Luxor. The Polish side was represented by Michał Murkociński - Polish Ambassador, Dr. Tomasz Waliszewski - Director of the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw and Dr. Zbigniew Szafrański, Director of the Station in Cairo.

The website of the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological and Conservation Mission in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari was launched in October 2014. It presents projects carried out within the complex, a database of finds and history of activities.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

Source: http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news,403996,opening-ceremony-of-another-part-of-the-temple-of-hatshepsut.html

Scientists are studying mummies from the Temple of Hatshepsut

Scientists from the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological and Preservation Mission at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari are using computed tomography and X-ray to study more than 2.5 thousand years old mummies of the priests of the god Montu - told PAP Zbigniew E. Szafranski, director of the Research Station of the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw in Cairo.

The project began in May. The first mummies, which are currently stored in the Luxor Museum, have already been scanned. The next activities are planned in Cairo, at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) and the Egyptian Museum.

Mummies studied by the scientists come from the tomb of the priests of the god Montu excavated in the Temple of Hatshepsut in the 1930s, nearly a thousand years after the death of the woman pharaoh the place changed its function from the temple to the burial site. The name of the valley, in which the temple is located - Deir el-Bahri - in Arabic means "Monastery of the North", a reference to the later still history of the place, which in the 5th-12th century was the location of Egyptian Coptic Christian church. Priests of Montu lived during the reign of the XXV Dynasty, the so-called Third Intermediate Period. They worshiped their god on the other bank of the Nile - in the temple complex which was a part of Karnak.

"In recent years, we re-excavated the tomb located in the Royal Mortuary Cult Complex of the temple. Due to the fact that the documentation methods almost 100 years ago were not perfect, we decided to accurately describe and document everything. In the process, we discovered objects that previous researchers had missed - explained Dr. Zbigniew E. Szafranski. - The study was preceded by documentation of sarcophagi, cartonnage and mummies currently in Egyptian museums".

Hatshepsut - The King Herself

What motivated Hatshepsut to rule ancient Egypt as a man while her stepson stood in the shadows? Her mummy, and her true story, have come to light.

By Chip Brown

There was something strangely touching about her fingertips. Everywhere else about her person all human grace had vanished. The raveled linen around her neck looked like a fashion statement gone horribly awry. Her mouth, with the upper lip shelved over the lower, was a gruesome crimp. (She came from a famous lineage of overbites.) Her eye sockets were packed with blind black resin, her nostrils unbecomingly plugged with tight rolls of cloth. Her left ear had sunk into the flesh on the side of her skull, and her head was almost completely without hair.

I leaned toward the open display case in Cairo's Egyptian Museum and gazed at what in all likelihood is the body of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, the extraordinary woman who ruled Egypt from 1479 to 1458 B.C. and is famous today less for her reign during the golden age of Egypt's 18th dynasty than for having the audacity to portray herself as a man. There was no beguiling myrrh perfume in the air, only some sharp and sour smell that seemed minted during the many centuries she had spent in a limestone cave. It was hard to square this prostrate thing with the great ruler who lived so long ago and of whom it was written, "To look upon her was more beautiful than anything." The only human touch was in the bone shine of her nailless fingertips where the mummified flesh had shrunk back, creating the illusion of a manicure and evoking not just our primordial vanity but our tenuous intimacies, our brief and passing feel for the world.

The discovery of Hatshepsut's lost mummy made headlines two summers ago, but the full story unfolded slowly, in increments, a forensic drama more along the lines of CSI than Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indeed the search for Hatshepsut showed the extent to which the trowels and brushes of archaeology's traditional toolbox have been supplemented by CT scanners and DNA gradient thermocyclers.