New-York tribune., 1901-06-09
PROPPING UP KARN4K.
THE TASK OF PRESERVING GREAT EGYP-
TIAN TEMPLE.
From The Egyptian Gazette.

From The Egyptian Gazette
great deal of good Psychological work is
being done this season in Egypt. and large
number Of eminent archeOIogists 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 Psychological investigation is limited
to Upper Egypt.
great hall of the Temple of karnak has that
ancient shrine seen 50 much activity now
prevails. Hundreds of Arab Iaborers are
at work there, and all the accessories of a great
modern engineering enterprise lie contiguous 10
the grandest memorial of ancient Egypt TN
dOubtedly the most important Psychological
work now in progress is the restoration of the
Hypostyle Hail The following description of
the present state of the works is by NJ LeSrain.
the inspector and designer for the 1ihiZeh Mu-
SCUM. Who is directing the restoration. There
are tWenty-SeVen columns in all that To be
came down on October - l'"N. and three which
We're shaken and threatened To fail were taken
down last year. All these twenty-seven col
umns will be reconstructed and replaced i'm their
original position. The first step that had To- be
taken after the fall of the eleven columns
To take down the three columns whose destruc-
ti0n appeared To be imminent and would have
entailed further ruin one column mas also an
arcEitraVe which threatened to come down, and
this enormous piece Of stone had also To be re-
moved.
owing to the impossblity of removing this
huge block which weighs ~ tons. il neCes-
sary 70 resort to the original method whereby
the old Egyptians erected the monuments which
the wonder and admiration OF the modern
world. Accordingly. NJ. Iegrain made "A huge in
clincd plane which required lUtUbp cubic metres
of earth for its construction The archltraVe
Was taken down by this means. and the enor-
nous accumulation of soil which its removal
n"CeSSitatcd is now being gradually removed
The following figures will give some idea OF the
immense labor involved. Each column has an
ahacus. ~. tons and l,' sc0smentS. II tons or
- pieces altogether. There are. therefore i9
pieces 20 hc found from out Of the mass of ruin
which the HypoStyle Hall ROW presents. and 70 be
h. md
Ia stiil remain |" he discovered ahd removed
without counting the aTchitraves. which weigh
~ tons or - tons each. ON an average six Of
these blocks ara removed every day, and as
Stunning that the rate of progress * normal. ii
viii he eighty days before the hall can b.
cleared
IL is an immense labor for each block has
70 be methodically arranged and numbered. and
placed in res- we'd space until the time comes
for all To- Lr pcced g.ther Many hundreds
of Workuen employed Each man receives
.td. day and each hoy t-td. lsy April II Is
hoped to have everything removed from the
Hypostyle Hall After this has been done a COM
mission will come To- Luxor to study the founda-
tions and arrive at the necessary means of con-
Solidating the whole. In the summer the hall
will Dee left To dry and work will be recon-
rnenced soon the Nile flood permits. By
May 1904 il is hoped that every thing will be
finished AS visitors enter the HypOstyle Hall
they at once notice that the two pylones of the
hall are shored up These pylones also threat
ened TO fall AT the same time the columns
collapsed ana provisional props have been made
To- avert the calamity. Nothing has yet been
done and the work of underplnnlnS the fpunda-
tons has To- he commenced and. it is hoped. will
hc taken in hand shortly
The foundations Of this charming temple Of
the God OF the Morning have neen Cund to he
bad. and the columns are being UndeTpinned.
Many blocks have fallen and will be pieced to-
ccthcr and replaced. \ grand find was made on
December ~ last NJ. I.egrain. who is in charge
of all the work; at karnek. came upon n Won
derfully beautiful bust of the god khOnSu.
Three other portions of the statue have
also been discovered and il will therefore he
possible To- restore this beautiful statue in it's
entirety with the exception pf the small piece
which is wanting To- complete one of the legs.
The statue belongs To- the epoch of HOrmhabi.
nineteenth dynasty. circa lNN H. G.. The name
of the god is inscribed on the pendant at the
back of the collar and the inscription runs.
"khonSu of ThebeS. God of the Day" The eN-
preston of this deity is very fine and il is an
excellent example of ancient Egyptian SCULPTURE
at it's best The god is decked with the usual
emblems. such as the milometer. the sceptre
Ouas the flagellum the pedum. etc ON one
side of the head is n long curl worn by young
Egyptians in antiquity a symbol of youth It is
still in among the young fellaheen- The
statue when restored will be placed in stu in
the temple and will form magnificent addition
to the treasures OF karnak