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Philae to reopen next month

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:03 am
by Kevininabydos
A short article in Ahramonline announces that the Hathor Temple of Philae is to be reopened after restoration works.

Following year of exhaustive restoration work, the Hathor temple on Egypt's island of Philae will reopen to public next month

To the east of the famous Isis temple on the island of Philae in Upper Egypt, workers and archaeologists are busy at work. They are cleaning and restoring the massive stone blocks that once formed the temple of Hathor, which is being rebuilt and restored in order to be officially inaugurated next month.

Time has since taken its toll on the temple, which was built by King Ptolemy VI and extended during the reigns of Ptolemy VII and Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius. Many of the temple's stone blocks have deteriorated; its walls, meanwhile, are riddled with cracks.

According to antiquities ministry officials, the temple's deteriorated blocks have been replaced with new ones, while fallen blocks have been returned to their original positions. Poor restoration work undertaken previously, meanwhile, has been corrected.

The temple consists of a colonnaded kiosk bearing 14 Hathor-headed pillars, a pronaos (vestibule) and a cult terrace facing the Nile River. Among the temple's most impressive reliefs is one depicting a group of musicians performing before an assembly of ancient Egyptian deities.


source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent ... e-of-.aspx

Speaking of Philae, in the 1940s Alexandre Varille acquired a certain number of aerial photographs taken by the Royal Air Force, among them some views of the Theban West Bank as well as the Islands of Philae and Sehel. These are now in the Egyptological Archives of the Università degli Studi di Milano. This is the view of Philae from their collection:

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(This is Philae temple in it's original location and not on the Island of Agilkia where it was relocated in the 1960's)

Re: Philae to reopen next month

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:40 pm
by Winged Isis
Blast! Just missed it! :x

But, we were two of only 6, yes, ONLY SIX, tourists on the island for over an hour, when we were there about a month ago! Wonderful ambience, but tragic for the industry. I did a 360 degree video of the courtyard of the Isis temple, and you only see my husband in it, and only hear sparrows. When we went to the Western Quarry, we were the only tourists the whole time, TOTAL. :(

Re: Philae to reopen next month

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:01 pm
by TonyC
But did you miss it? The link on the post takes you back to an April article ... so "next month" might actually be May! In fact, that article was posted on here under the heading "Hathor temple on Philae to reopen" on April 28 (see page 3), so I am confused.

Re: Philae to reopen next month

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:12 pm
by Kevininabydos
Don't you ever do a post with out getting at someone or being snidie about a post. Yes I am aware I posted this link before but it was an opening to let people see the additional 1940's picture of Philae. If you don't want the links or posts just let me know I will be happy to stop sharing. :st

Re: Philae to reopen next month

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:22 pm
by TonyC
Kevininabydos wrote:Don't you ever do a post with out getting at someone or being snidie about a post.
I'm sure I do!

I was Intrigued by that one because I'd read the story before and wanted to see if the opening date had been postponed and a new date set.

Great picture, though. Somewhere else on the net I can go searching.

Re: Philae to reopen next month

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 12:06 am
by Winged Isis
Well spotted, T! They obviously did a top job, so that their work wasn't obvious but sympathetic, plus, I haven't been to Philae since 2009.