The funerary temple of Djoser at Saqqara (Sakkara) pictured here was built nearly 5,000 years ago for one of the earliest kings of our mystery country.The area served as the burial grounds for the national capital at Memphis. Djoser’s nearby tomb was an architectural prototype of the world-famous royal tombs at Giza, some 15 miles to the north.
Can you name that county?
See below for answers.
Today is Sham el Nessim, the Egyptian Spring festival celebrated for over 4,000 years. In Ancient Egypt, the festival was celebrated on or around the spring equinox, but at some point in the early Christian era, Egyptian Christians (Copts) moved the festival to the day after Orthodox Easter and it is celebrated on that day still, by all Egyptians, regardless of religion.
Sham el Nessim means “smell the breeze” and the day is marked with time spent outdoors in parks and on beaches and boats, enjoying picnics with family and friends. It’s traditional to eat Fesikh (fermented gray mullet), salted and smoked herring, spring onions and painted hard-boiled eggs. The foods all represent the fertility of the new season. The symbolism of eggs is obvious, spring onions represent new growth, and, for ancient Egyptians, fish symbolized rebirth.
The powerful smell of Fesikh is legendary. It seems logical to me that the smell has something to do with the outdoors eating, but I can’t get anyone to confirm that. The origins of these traditions are murky. If you’re in Egypt on Sham el Nessim, do join in the festivities, just be sure any Fesikh you eat comes from an experienced and reputable dealer. If not properly prepared, Fesikh can make you very sick and has even caused a few deaths.
The Luxor Museum is perfectly located on the Luxor corniche (Nile-front promenade) between Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. This museum is much smaller than Egyptian Museum in Cairo but that’s not a bad thing. It’s well-organized and free of clutter, with beautifully displayed artifacts documented in both Arabic and English. (The Cairo Museum is not to be missed, for sure, but the contents seem to have been tossed about with little thought to ease of viewing.) Continue reading
Here’s an absurdly easy one for the first week of spring ~
Imagine a place where the world’s most famous and mysterious monuments anchor the horizon. Imagine catching your first glimpses of these legendary shrines in the fleeting spaces between buildings as you make your way through the world’s craziest traffic.This mystery country, which has been attracting tourists for millennia, is just beginning to pull out of a 5-year tourism slump. The recovery of this vital industry will certainly be a factor in the long-term economic and political stability of the country.
Can you name that country?
See below for answers.
Qaitbay Citadel, Alexandria
Alexandria Library
Temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor
Temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor
on the Nile at Aswan
Gayer-Anderson Museum, Cairo
The Gayer-Anderson Museum in Cairo is one of very few examples of 17th-century residential buildings left in the city. The architecture is of as much interest as the contents on exhibit and visitors get a good sense of how wealthy Egyptians lived 200-300 years ago.
The museum is comprised of two adjoined houses, which stand right up against the southeast corner of the 9th-century Ibn Tulun Mosque. Positioning houses very close to mosques was common at the time and until the early 20th century, Ibn Tulun was swallowed up by houses built all around it. All the houses were pulled down in the 1920s and 30s except two, which the Egyptian government deemed historically important and in fair enough condition to save.
In 1935, Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson, a British officer and doctor obsessed with Middle Eastern and Islamic art, culture and history, was allowed to move into the houses. Anderson joined the two buildings, restored them, and filled them with his large collection of art, antiquities, furniture, carpets, costumes, Islamic and Coptic … and assorted objects. Some architectural features include deep, covered balconies, intricate tile work, painted wood beam ceilings, elaborately carved window screens (mashrabeya), and a rooftop terrace garden with sweeping views of Cairo.
looking out on a minaret of the Ibn Tulun Mosque from the rooftop terrace of the Gayer-Anderson Museum, Cairo
When Gayer-Anderson returned to England in 1942, he donated his collection to the Egyptian government.
The museum is also known as Bayt al-Kritliya (House of the Cretan Woman) because it once belonged to a wealthy woman from Crete.
This place is a maze and full of such a wide range of items (some labeled in Arabic and English, some not labeled at all), a guide is recommended.
A few random shots of Egypt for your Friday.
the Solar Boat, Giza, Egypt
the Solar Boat, Giza, Egypt
Edfu Temple, Egypt
Philae Temple, Egypt
Aqabat, White Desert, Egypt
Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great, ruled Egypt for 66 years in the 13th century BCE. He is remembered for ordering numerous military campaigns to reclaim lands and hold off invasion by Hittites and Syrians and for immortalizing his own achievements in massive building projects all over the country. He is widely considered the most influential leader of ancient Egypt.
As a deterrent to invasion from the south, Ramesses II had two imposing monuments built at Abu Simbel on the border with Nubia. Click to read more about Abu Simbel.
the Great Temple at Abu Simbel
The great temple, with a façade of four colossal statues of the seated pharaoh, was originally aligned so that the rays of the rising sun would illuminate the inner sanctuary on two days each year, February 21 and October 21. The dates are often described as the birth and coronation dates of Ramesses II, however it’s more likely the dates were associated with religious festivals.
After the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s, the temples were taken apart, block-by-block, and reassembled on higher ground, against the backdrop of an artificial mountain. Moving the temples was an incredible feat, but, in the process, the alignment shifted slightly so that the inner sanctuary catches the rising sun one day later, on the 22nd of February and October.
Each year, on February 22 and October 22, the sun’s first rays shine on the gods Ra-Harakhty and Amun Ra and Ramesses II in the inner sanctuary of the great temple at Abu Simbel. The god Ptah remains in the shadows.
On these dates, thousands of tourists and locals gather before sunrise to witness the event. There’s music and dancing and a happy, celebratory atmosphere, but it can also be quite chaotic. The inner sanctuary is lit for about 10 minutes and the temple can’t begin to accommodate all visitors at once, so only security officials are allowed inside the temple at sunrise. The illumination inside plays live for the crowds on screens set up outside.
The southern Egyptian city of Aswan is the gateway to Abu Simbel. These days, flight scheduling is unreliable, so most Abu Simbel visitors must go overland in a convoy, a 3-hour drive, one-way.
I hope you enjoy these images of the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari, near Luxor, Egypt.
Click to see our tours to Egypt, most of which include a visit to Deir el Bahari.
Sunrise at Giza
Pyramid of Khafra at Giza
the Step Pyramid at Sakkara, a prototype of the pyramids at Giza
at Sakkara
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