WIXLIB

What is Egyptomania?Scientific discovery in Egypt between the late 18th and early 20th centuries sparked a surge of interest for allthings Egyptian in Europe and the United States. This fascination with Egypt inspired a wave of tourism to thecountry. It was also was expressed in western architecture, art, and culture through a variety of Egyptianinspired designs, or motifs. We call this enthusiasm related to ancient Egypt ures/what-is-egyptomania)What were some of the scientific discoveries that kindled Egyptomania? ¹Napoleon’s Expedition to EgyptNapoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, led a militaryexpedition to Egypt from 1798 to 1801 that created awave of Egyptomania across Europe. This is becausemany scientists accompanied him and recorded theremains of ancient Egyptian monuments – a type ofdocumentation that had never been done before.One of the most important discoveries during Napoleon’sexpedition was the Rosetta Stone, which his soldiersfound in 1799. In 1822, a French scholar andarchaeologist named Jean-François ChampollionBonaparte before the Sphinx by Jean-Léon Gérome, 1886deciphered hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone. Thiswas the beginning of the science of Egyptology.Check out this video to learn about the Rosetta Stone:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v yeQ-6eyMQ oThe Discovery of King Tut’s TombIn 1922, British archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvondiscovered the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in ancient Egypt, causingEgyptomania to spread throughout the west again. In addition to thediscovery itself, the tale of the mummy’s curse, which supposedly killedLord Carnarvon in 1923, created a craze among those fascinated withEgypt.King Tut has been exhibited in museums around the world since the 1960s– keeping ‘Tutmania’ alive still today.Check out this video to learn about the discovery of King Tut’s tomb:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v Avqafc6fZwcCarter (left) in Funerary Chamber courtesyof https://www.nationalgeographic.com- 11 -

Experiencing Egypt through Art and ArchitectureAccording to Manon Schutz in her article “What isEgyptomania?”, few could afford to travel to Egypt duringthese peaks in Egyptomania. So, the only experience mostpeople had with the country and its mysteries was throughmemento photographs, literature, art, and architecture, mostof which represented exotic and romantic images of Egypt.Schutz explains, “Many popular stories about Egypt focus onthe search for immortality and eternal love. Egyptomaniaexpresses these longings visually through obelisks,sphinxes, pyramids, and other Egyptian motifs”. Theseimages are reflected in western architecture, art, and /what-is-egyptomania)Le Sphynx Armachis a Gizeh, P. Sebah,Turkish,active ca. 1823-1886Cover to My Sahara Rosesong book, 1919Tiffany & Co. ormolu and marble mantel set, c/ 1885.Courtesy of https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works -ofart/68.97.4-.6/Luxour Cinema, Paris, built in 19211 Schutz, Manon. What is Egyptomania? National Trust UK. University of Oxford. gyptomania- 12 -

19th Century Tourism in EgyptTourism was founded and developed in Europe and North America during the second half of the 19th century,with Egypt being one of the first locations people traveled to outside Europe. Few could afford to travel toEgypt in person, and for those who could not, Egypt was experienced through memento photography,literature, art, and architecture. Virginia Marquand Monroe was fortunate enough to travel to Egypt in the late19th century. This exhibition features photographs and mementos she collected to document her journey, aswell as books about Egypt. We can surmise based on her extensive collection of photographs, artifacts, andbooks about Egypt that she, too, was taken by the Egyptomania of her day.According to Elvan Cobb in his article, “Taking Home the Pyramids, Andrew D. White, A Tourist in 19th-centuryEgypt”, Egyptian tourism catered to many different interests. “One could gain better health by spending thewinter in Egypt, visit architectural masterpieces – both ancient and modern - or experience the exotic “other”that westerners were conditioned to expect in Egyptian cities. These experience were usually managedthrough tourism, particularly through guidebooks and packaged x.html),One of the most famous tourism companies of the day wasThomas Cook & Son, Ltd. Anyone who has heard thephrase, “I’ll give you the Cook’s tour” is familiar with Cook’scompany, which is still in operation today.According to K.B. Owen in her article, “19th Century Tourism,A Cook’s Tour of Egypt”, Cook is credited with bringingtourism to the middle-class consumer through the medium ofpackaged tours. His first organized tour to Egypt was in1869, and included a trip to the opening of the Suez Canal.As is stated in the article, “The Nile Cruise, 1847 and 1897”from Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA), “In 1870,Thomas Cook & Son began offering steamboat tours up theNile that could be accomplished in twenty days to the FirstCataract and back. An additional week could be added tocover the area up to the Second Cataract (Cook 14-26)”.(TIMEA), http://timea.rice.eduThe article goes on to say, “For many nineteenth and earlytwentieth century travelers, a cruise along the Nile River wasthe centerpiece of a journey to Egypt.” Cook's tours focusedon key sites along the Nile, such as Abydos, Thebes, Philae,and Abu Simbel.- 13 -

Travel Photography and PhotogravurePhotographyIn 1850 the first photographs of Egypt were published in Europe. Over the following 50 years more than 250amateur and professional photographers from across Europe and the Ottoman Empire would visit the country.As the discipline, art, and technology of photography evolved throughout the 19th century, an influx of tourists inEgypt created a demand for souvenir photographs. Photography allowed the production of instant and precisecopies of ancient Egyptian reliefs that artists had labored for years to re-create. Tourists could now purchasephotographic print sets, similar to postcard books or coffee table books today, that included scenic highlights of theirtravels.Photographs of Egypt published in Europe encouraged not only tourism, but also foreign investment in the country.With the rise of Egyptology as an academic discipline, photographers began serving tourists and Egyptologists alike.As such, the emergence of Egyptology, the rise of tourism, and advancements in photography in the late 19thcentury became closely interwoven.PhotogravureThe photogravure process is one of the most effective methods ever developed to mass-produce large editions ofphotographs for fine art books and magazines. This photomechanical technique combines photography and etchingto make high-quality, ink-based photographic prints. The resulting photogravure, or heliogravure, is an image thatcombines the realistic detail of a photograph with the subtle range of whites, grays, and blacks associated with afine art print.Many fine art books such as Egypt. Heliogravures After Original Views by R.M. Junghaendel, 1893, utilized themethod in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to make foreign destinations more accessible to the armchairtraveler.Orientalism in PhotographyNineteenth-century tourist photography not only included landscapes and images of historical monuments, but alsoscenes that catered to Western ideas of contemporary Egyptian life. As such, photographers often posed models ofmusicians, craftsmen, merchants, and other local people to match, and therefore reinforce, Western perspectives. Inher article, “Orientalism in Photography,” author Michelle L. Woodward states, “Nissan N. Perez in his book FocusEast: Early Photography in the Near East (1839-1885), succinctly explains one way of thinking about howOrientalism operates: “Literature, painting, and photography fit the real Orient into the imaginary or mental moldexisting in the Westerner’s mind. These attitudes are mirrored in many of the photographs taken during this time[the nineteenth century] Either staged or carefully selected from a large array of possibilities, they become livingvisual documents to prove an imaginary reality.”¹¹Nissan N. Perez, Focus East: Early Photography in the Near East (183901885), New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in association withThe Domino Press, Jerusalem, and The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1988, 50. hotography/)- 14 -

General view of CairoHeliogravureEgypt. Heliogravures After Original Viewsby R.M. Junghaendel, with a preface by C.G. RawlinsonBerlin: Cosmos Art Publishing Co. Ltd., 1893The panorama of the ‘well-protected city’, as the Egyptians have called their capital, leaves an indelible impressionon the memory of all travelers who have visited the historical valley of the Nile. From this vantage point, the 19 thcentury traveler’s eye would have wandered over an endless sea of houses, from which arise the slender, gracefulminarets of the mosques, until settling on the world-famed Pyramids of Giza ascending into the sky.Dancing Girl at KenehHeliogravureEgypt. Heliogravures After Original Viewsby R.M. Junghaendel, with a preface by C.G. RawlinsonBerlin: Cosmos Art Publishing Co. Ltd., 1893This plate represents a scene 19th-century travelers may have encountered while visiting a local café. Covered fromhead to waist in gold and silver spangles is Fatima, the dancing girl, captivating her audience with a performance ofthe ‘danse du ventre’ or belly dance. The musicians, her nearest relatives, play instruments including a clay drum.The audience, consisting principally of sailors, donkey-drivers, laborers, and other distinguished local residents,seem enchanted by the performance and clap their hands to follow the rhythm of the music and the movement ofthe dance. Such a performance in Egypt is called a “Fantasia.”- 15 -

Pyramids of GizehHeliogravureEgypt. Heliogravures After Original Viewsby R.M. Junghaendel, with a preface by C.G. RawlinsonBerlin: Cosmos Art Publishing Co. Ltd., 1893In The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain describes the feeling of coming across the Egyptian pyramids for the firsttime: "At the distance of a few miles the Pyramids rising above the palms looked very clean-cut, very grandimposing, and very soft and filmy, as well. They swam in a rich haze that took from them all suggestions of unfeelingstone, and made them seem only the airy nothings of a dream." (Mart Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1869).No. 46 Le Sphynx Armachis a GizehTranslation: The Sphinx Armachis at GizaAlbumen printArtist: P. Sebah, Turkish, active ca. 1823-1886"The Sphinx is grand in its loneliness; it is imposing in its magnitude; it is impressive in the mystery that hangs overits story. And there is that in the over-shadowing majesty of this eternal figure of stone, with its accusing memory of- 16 -

the deeds of all ages, which reveals to one something of what he shall find when he shall stand at last in the awfulpresence of God," (Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1869).Facing directly from west to east, the Great Sphinx of Giza is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt.149. Chameliers du SinaiTranslation: Camel Drivers in SinaiAlbumen printArtist: P. Sebah, Turkish, active ca. 1823-1886Nineteenth-century tourist photography not only included landscapes and depictions of historical monuments, butalso scenes that fulfilled Western fantasies of the “exotic” lifestyles of regional peoples. Photographers created theirtableaux by posing models of musicians, craftsmen, merchants, and other local people. Here, Bedouin camel driversare depicted traversing the Nile in traditional dress.One of the Steamers of Thos. Cook & Son, (Egypt) Ltd.HeliogravureEgypt. Heliogravures After Original Viewsby R.M. Junghaendel, with a preface by C.G. RawlinsonBerlin: Cosmos Art Publishing Co. Ltd., 1893- 17 -

In 1870 Thomas Cook & Son began offering steamboat tours up the Nile River, to the First Cataract and back, thatcould be accomplished in 20 days. For many 19th-and early-20th- century travelers, a cruise along the Nile was thecenterpiece of a journey to Egypt. Cook's tours focused on key sites along the river, such as Abydos, Thebes,Philae, and Abu Simbel.Great Temple at KarnakHeliogravureEgypt. Heliogravures After Original Viewsby R.M. Junghaendel, with a preface by C.G. RawlinsonBerlin: Cosmos Art Publishing Co. Ltd., 1893The most wonderful portion of the mighty sanctuary dedicated to Egyptian god Ammon is, without a doubt, thegigantic hall beyond the second pylon. The building was begun under Seti I and completed by his son andsuccessor, Ramesses II. The succeeding rulers of the dynasty added pictorial representations and inscriptions,completing an incomparably beautiful monument from one of the most glorious epochs in Egyptian history. Althoughmany of them have collapsed or been scattered by the effects of both man and nature, the hall continues to providethe traveler with an overwhelming effect. This picture gives a view of the collapsed western hall of the second pylon.- 18 -

Colosse de Memmon. Vue d’EstAlbumen printArtist: P. Sebah, Turkish, active ca. 1823-1886On the western bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor, sit the Colossi of Memnon, a pair of monumental statuesrepresenting Amenhotep III (1386-1353 BCE). Ancient Greek writers referred to the entire complex regularly asthe Memnonium, after the Greek hero Memnon. In The Nile: Notes for Travellers in Egypt (published 1890), authorE.A. Budge notes that the site became a legendary oracle for Romans after an earthquake in 29 BCE damaged themonument, and it began “singing.” He notes inscriptions on the statues made by “distinguished Romans” whotraveled to the site, to hear the “vocal Memnon.”Valley of the Tombs of the King of ThebesHeliogravureEgypt. Heliogravures After Original Viewsby R.M. Junghaendel, with a preface by C.G. RawlinsonBerlin: Cosmos Art Publishing Co. Ltd., 1893About 3 miles from the left bank of the Nile, an old royal highroad takes the traveler between hills of ruins and steeprocky walls, to the Valley of the Kings in the old Theban capital. This plate offers a striking representation of theloneliness and desolation of the valley, which early travelers would have experienced. The dark, door-like openingsat the foot of the rocks represent the entrances to the royal catacombs. On the right are six openings, the first three- 19 -

of which lead respectively to the tombs of Ramesses II, Seti I, and Ramesses X. The three others lead to the tombsof other royalty.Temple of Isis at PhilaeHeliogravureEgypt.

Nov 01, 2018 · Great Ancient Egypt Projects You Can Build Yourself. (2006) Young Adults: Houck, Colleen. Reawakened. (2015) McGraw, Eloise Jarvis. Mara, Daughter of the Nile. (1985) Riordan, Rick. The Red Pyramid. (2010) Snyder, Zilpha Keatley. The Egypt Game