page_title: Arthur Rhoné
section_title: Further work in Egypt (1879–82)
hierarchical_section_title: Arthur Rhoné / Life / Further work in Egypt (1879–82)
caption_attribution_description: English: Mosque of the Sultan Kalaoun in Cairo
context_page_description: Arthur-Ali Rhoné was a wealthy amateur French Arabist and Egyptologist.
  He was known for his efforts to prevent the vandalism of monuments in Cairo, Egypt, and in Paris, France.
  Often the destruction was done in the name of restoration, or of other improvements to the city.
context_section_description: At the start of 1879 Rhoné returned to Egypt with a group of artist friends, and went on the Palestine.
  In Egypt he spent all his time on Cairo, to which he returned with Mariette.
  In October 1878 exceptionally high waters of the Nile had inundated the Musée de Boulaq beside of the river.
  The building was damaged, the museum was closed, antiquities had to be packed in cases and many of the old papers were destroyed. This may have been when Rhoné decided to alert Paris to the  impact of the improvements by the Khedive Isma'il Pasha on the ancient city, which had been relatively undisturbed in 1865.
  Rhone did much to publicize the discoveries of Egyptology in articles in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts and Le Magasin pittoresque. He published photographs of the Boulaq museum and the archaeological excavations.
  He also wrote of the destruction in Cairo since his last visit.
  He detailed the "vandalisme restaurateur", the "vandalism of the restorer", on buildings such as the Mosque of Sultan al-Muayyad, a fifteenth century masterpiece.
  On 28 December 1880 a permanent archaeological mission was established in Cairo.
  Rhoné did not acknowledge that the Ottomans had helped preserve the fabric of Cairo. 
  In 1881 he wrote "the city of Cairo was still intact, at least in the sense that its monuments continued to fall quietly into ruin following the eternal way of the Orient; at least nothing was attempted in the way of works called 'improvement' and 'Restoration.'"
  Rhoné was concerned with the impact of Italian architects and builders, who undertook much of the construction in Cairo at the time, introducing what he called "Italian Gothic style" buildings.
  He argued that some of the principles of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc should be followed, specifically that of respecting local building techniques. 
  In restoration work, he agreed with Viollet-le-Duc about the need to understand the original context when a monument was built, and with William Morris about the need to respect and preserve all periods of a building. He used the Al-Hussein and Sayyida Zaynab mosques as examples of the damage done by insensitive restorers.
  A decree of 10 January 1881 charged Rhoné with a mission to the East, particularly Egypt, to study Arab and Egyptian monuments.
  He immersed himself in the study of Cairo in the early 15th century, and traced the enclosure of the Fatimid palace in the heart of the old city.
  The orientalist Paul Ravaisse was impressed by Rhoné's innovative approach and valuable results, and in September 1881 arranged for Rhoné's mission to be extended by another year, this time with a small salary. In October 1881 Rhoné returned to Cairo with his family for a nine-month stay in which he concentrated on ancient Egyptian remains, although he also studied the Arab monuments and the topology of Cairo.
  The Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe (Commission for Conservation of Monuments of Arab Art) was established by decree of the Khedive on 18 December 1881, due in part to the pressure from Rhoné and his friends.
caption: Mosquée du Sultan Kalaoun from L'Egypte à petites journées
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