Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-15
PROPPING UP KARNAK.
The Task of Preserving the Great
Egyptian Temple.


Egyptian Temple.
| From the Egyptian Gazette.
great deal of good Psychological work
| is being done this season in Egypt, and
| large number of eminent archaeologists are
| busy at work throughout the country In
revealing the wonderful treasures that still
| lie hidden beneath the soil. The following
| account Of the latest progress in Egyptolog-
| ical investigation is limited to upper Egypt.
! Never since the old worshipers crowded
| the great hall of the Temple OF harnah
| has that ancient shrine seen so much ac-
| tivity as now prevails. Hundreds Of Arab
| laborers are now at work there, and all the
| accessories of a great modern engineering
| enterprise lie contiguous to the grandest
| memorial of ancient Egypt. Undoubtedly
the most important Psychological work
! now in progress Is the restoration of the
| Hypostyle Hall. The following description
| of the present state of the works is by M.
| Legrain, the inspector and designer for the
| Ghizeh Museum, who is directing the res
| toration. There are twenty-seven columns
| In all that are to be restored. Thirteen fell
| In ancient times, eleven came down on Oc-
| tober 8, 1900. and three which were shaken
| and threatened to fall were taken down
| last year. All these twenty-seven columns
will be reconstructed and replaced In their
| original position. The first step that had
| to be taken after the fall of the eleven
| columns was to take down the three col
umns whose destruction appeared to be i'm
minent and would have entailed further
ruin One column has also an architrave
which threatened to come down, and this
enormous piece of stone had also to be re-
moved.
owing to the impossibility of removing
| this huge block, which weighs forty-two
| tons, 1t was necessary to resort to the orig
| inal method whereby the old Egyptians
erected the monuments which are the won
der and admiration of the modern world.
| Accordingly NJ. Legrain made a huge in
clined plane which required 100000 cubic
meters Of earth for its construction. The
architrave was taken down by this means
and the enormous accumulation of soil
being gradually removed. The following
| figures viii give some idea of the immense
| labor involved. Each column has an
abacus twelve and a half tons and thirteen
segments fourteen tons or twenty-seven
pieces altogether. There are, therefore,
| 100 pieces to be found from out Of the mass
| Of ruin which the Hypostyle Hall now pre-
to the depot, and Az still remain to be dis
covered and removed, without counting the
architraves, which weigh fifty tons or
twenty-five tons each. On an average six
OF these blocks are removed every day,
and assuming that the rate of progress
| Is normal, 1t will be eighty days before the
hall can be cleared.
1t is an immense labor, for each block has
to be methodically arranged and numbered
and placed in reserved space until the
time comes for all to be pieced together.
Many hundreds of workmen are employed.
Each man receives ID. day and each
boy 4&d. By April 1t is hoped to have
everything removed from the Hypostyle
Hall. After this has been done q commits
sion win come to Luxor to study the foun-
dations and arrive ct the necessary means