A picture taken in 1992, in Paris, shows French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. Desroches-Noblecourt (AFP/File/JOEL ROBINE)
Posted on 06/26/2011 7:30:52 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, known for her books on art and history and for saving the Nubian temples from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam, has died at the age of 97, her editor Telemaque said Friday.
In a career spanning more than half-a-century, Desroches-Noblecourt also helped preserve the mummy of King Ramses II, which was threatened by fungus, and became the first French woman to lead an archaeological dig in 1938...
Desroches-Noblecourt's greatest accomplishment came in 1954 when the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to build a new dam with a capacity of 157 billion cubic metres, which would extend into Sudan... Desroches-Noblecourt identified the threatened sites and then made a formal appeal for international support to move 14 temples and make urgent excavations at sites that would soon be under several dozen metres of water...
Desroches-Noblecourt managed to find funding -- from 50 countries at the time of the Cold War. The rescue project, including the transportation and reconstruction of the temples on their new sites, took two decades...
This in turn led to the organization of a Tutankhamun exhibition at the Louvre in 1967, which attracted nearly 1.3 million visitors, followed by the exhibitions of Ramses II in 1976, and Amenophis III in 1993.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
A picture taken in 1992, in Paris, shows French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. Desroches-Noblecourt (AFP/File/JOEL ROBINE)
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Kiosk of Qertassi
A few steps from the temple of Kalabsha stand the remains of the Roman Kiosk of Qertassi. Originally located almost twenty miles south of the High Dam, it may have been a station on a processional route of the sacred barque of Isis.
Managed to make it to Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, Nemrut Dag, and some other sites), but never got to go to Egypt while I was in the USAF, and now I may never leave home again... darn it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel_temples
yep. I'm gettin' old...
Old Student
A woman who saved 3,000 years of history.
Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt was the most outstanding Egyptologist of the 20th c. Her books are wonderfully readable, bringing Ancient Egypt to life.
She was a great teacher and Curator. May she rest in peace.
Left to themselves, the Egyptians would have destroyed every shred of their fabulous history. Shame on them.
You’re mistaken about that. The Egyptians revere their past.
And they were happy to share artifacts with the Americans who helped them recover their great monuments during the first half of the twentieth century, because they couldn’t do it themselves. So much so that the obelisk that stands outside the museum in New York was an unprompted gift to America from a grateful nation.
Not so many warm feeling toward the French, the British, and the Germans, who didn’t and don’t respect their sovereignty and pretty much helped themselves.
I’ve been to Egypt; greatest trip of my life.
You’re mistaken about that. The Egyptians revere their past.
And they were happy to share artifacts with the Americans who helped them recover their great monuments during the first half of the twentieth century, because they couldn’t do it themselves. So much so that the obelisk that stands outside the museum in New York was an unprompted gift to America from a grateful nation.
Not so many warm feeling toward the French, the British, and the Germans, who didn’t and don’t respect their sovereignty and pretty much helped themselves.
I’ve been to Egypt; greatest trip of my life.
“I have always been fascinated with Egypt but like you, I never got there. Too late now, I’m too old, I missed my chance.”
You and I both. Well, at least there are still photographs and movies. ;)
OS
Oh sure, they like it now. If the grave robbers had found every grave they would have robbed every one. There would have been nothing left for the Brits, Americans and others to discover. It is because we and the others searched for, found and protected the artifacts that they have been preserved.
Museums, don’t forget them. The Egyptian artifacts tour around to art museums all over the country. We saw the treasures from King Tut’s tomb in an art museum. That’s not as good as going to Egypt but it is better than nothing.
Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, an amazing life, an amazing story.
She was a great teacher and Curator. May she rest in peace.
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Civil War grave robbers regularly dug up battlefields at Gettysburg, Shiloh, etc., until they were dissuaded by the law and the establishment of the National Park Service. That isn’t an indictment of Americans’ respect for the past; rather, it speaks well of the country that something was done about it.
Same thing in Egypt. They have gone to great links to protect their history. And they were smart enough to ask for help from the Americans to recover and preserve it. I think it speaks well of them.
RIP.
What an extraordinary career and legacy. All of us owe her a debt of gratitude for her life’s work.
And, I’d wager, her passing will warrant a brief obit, a few hits on this thread, nowhere on the order of a Michael Jackson or Anna Nicole Smith. Such is the world we live in.
We want to preserve Western Culture why?
Thanks JPB!
She saved Egyptian tourism; the Aswan High Dam should never have been built, period, it has been a disaster all the way around, and the electrical needs (even in Egypt) are not anywhere near 100% served by the dam, which was the original claim.
The Russians managed to make an interesting discovery while drilling into the basement to check the strata, making sure it could hold the mass of the dam with all that water behind it, found that the Nile had cut out a Grand Canyon-like gulch millions of years ago, when the Med had been isolated from the Atlantic, and water levels had dropped.
You guys are bringin’ down this whole thread about this woman’s death. ;’)
I’d enjoy seeing the places (some of them at least, and some more than others), but I’d require that the place be cleared of its populace first.
Of course, what I’d really like is a time machine. :’) First stop, Mohammed’s home hovel, no reason...
I wonder what happened to the thread about top ten underappreciated ancient sites?
ah...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2590584/posts?page=80#80
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