Solar Boat Museum Giza.

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Hafiz
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Solar Boat Museum Giza.

Post by Hafiz »

Solar Boat Museum Giza.

All new buildings in Egypt after 1956 have a common attribute – I’ll leave you to work that one out but know from previous experience that one person’s atrocity is another’s jewel and it doesn’t much matter to some that form doesn’t follow function, that light is provided, that all buildings should fit into an environment or even that it is an inviting building that combines comfort, beauty and pride.

Take this one.

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To some the random variation in shapes, the cheap external cladding, the color contrast with its locale, the random steel fixtures on the exterior (in other photos than can't post but look like giant sized steel ladders sitting on top of the tin), the lack of landscaping, the piles of adjacent dirt that obscure the base of the building, the imbalance of the higher part of the building over the foundations/lower part, the fact that its squeezed alongside a structure on the right, the ‘beauty’ of the adjacent modern wall on the front right, the extreme difficulty that older and disabled people would have getting in – not to mention that they can’t ‘get up’ inside the building - but most of all its location.

Stuck up against the Pyramid and obscuring the view of it would be like assembling a chain of modern toilets in St Peter’s Square except that I’m certain that idea, presented with a flat imperious face, would get near universal support in the Supreme Antiques.

An even less attractive profile.

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And another which defies words.

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The best that can be said of it is that its as unforgettable as its relatives Hawass and the cloudy Lehrer.

Unbelievably the boat is being destroyed where it is – just what you expect from half thought out ideas from half formed brains. There is no air-conditioning and not even air filtering. Its display breaks all the archaeology/museum rules and if you did this in the west and even in India or China you would be fired. The windows don’t even contain the type of glass to filter out damaging suns rays, keep out air pollution and their ‘gaps’, maybe standard Arab Contractors workmanship, let in rain (which will contain pollution acids).

The Wikipage prepared by the Supreme Antiques say that all preservation technologies are being used which might convince the bilious Coasties but is in fact a lie – something they are familiar with – even with the Step Pyramid muck up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giza_Solar_boat_museum

Its contribution to one of the world’s most famous vistas is clear and well thought out – in a life support ward of a military hospital – possibly Maadi.

https://www.ask-aladdin.com/images/sola ... museum.jpg

The interior is worse but I’ll spare you the details – just notice how cramped the boat is in its sides and against the roof, its almost as if they designed the building without measuring the boat – I think they did. Of particular concern is the proximity of the walkway to the side of the boat – I think you can touch it. The passageways are too narrow for mass/group tourism but what would I know compared with the eternal genius of the Supreme Antiques whom the world looks for advice on museums – no it doesn’t , unless brain dead. Turin and all the other western Egyptology collections don’t listen to a word from Egypt.

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In this photo the snout of the boat almost touches the roof. It would be a bit like having the Elgin Marbles in a room only 1 foot higher than the frieze – oh I forgot that cramping, hopefully not a monthly pain, rule is almost universal in Egypt – especially in the regional museums Hawass built – another post but some on this forum think them OK – probably because they haven’t been there.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/imag ... ehr4rsNLhB

The mind blowing, world leading, skills of the Supreme Antiques in this and all other matters are clear from this picture of the reassembling of the boat. Note the workers are standing on the wooden structure of the boat. Given the clothing of some I assume another Egyptian Golden Rule – if its physical work an educated and proud Egyptian doesn’t do it. Their third rule might be - unskilled labor is always best or if its not best its cheapest. Hawass has these photos on his own web site and doesn’t notice the ‘problem’ – as if he ever noticed much beyond himself. It would be like not noticing a repair to the Mona Lisa done by street people using trowels. http://www.drhawass.com/wp/untold-stori ... olar-boat/

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I can’t find any details for the current tin coffin but a lengthy book on the whole site says a museum was built in the 60’s (can’t even get a precise date for the hear and now let alone 5,000 years ago), in 1980 the public were excluded, reasons unknown, and special permission obtained from the Supreme Antiques, rarely given, which must have kept a few corpses in a job, and students usually prohibited. Even in 1980 this author of an academic work said:

“The museum, I had been assured by experts in the field, is a disaster in its desert location, its glass walls and roof producing extremes of temperature and humidity that subject the ship's timbers to unbearable stresses and make the future of the boat un¬certain. “ 40 years later its still there and some see the biggest issue as Nefertiti’s bust. Quarry blocks dug up at the same time as the boat were incompetently preserved and ‘looked after’ and are now illegible http://www.gizapyramids.org/static/pdf% ... s_boat.pdf

The name of the architect for the current museum (probably opened ’68 but unclear) seems to be a state secret which either means a not very competent Cairo architect who got the job without public tender or a western idiot with enough sense to now keep his name secret.

Possibly because the discovery and assembly of the boat were at the time of Nasser’s noxious nationalism no international assistance was sought (except possibly on the source of the timber from the British Museum – Lebanon) which might explain a deal of what happened.

There has been talk for 10 years of moving the boat from its new museum to the even newer GEM. Maybe the children Dublin architects who got the contract but none other since have done a proper room. Maybe not. It will be interesting to work out whether the lessons learnt, or not, from the Giza Boat fiasco on sunlight have been applied in GEM. What’s your betting.


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Re: Solar Boat Museum Giza.

Post by Winged Isis »

So sadly true. The boat is magnificent, one of my favourite artefacts of Egyptian history. From my first visit I was appalled from the minute I set eyes on its monstrous container; its location, design, interior and atmosphere. But very soon I will be gazing on those wonderful graceful, sweeping lines yet again, and still in awe of its creators' skills. The wow factor is always there.
Carpe diem! :le:
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