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The Workshop of the Sculptor Thutmosis

The far-reaching political changes which occurred intermittently throughout Egypt's long history represent a window onto the past and offer excellent archeological potential for modern scholaes. Thetasks of a royal residence or a necropolis demanded that, when a move was being contemplated, the officials in charge should make a decision about the quality of the items they took with them. Objects regarded as superfluous were left behind—such as the famous * papyri of Aburis,* administrative douc- ments of the mortuary priesthood at the epony- mous fifth-Dynasty pyramid complexes situated between Giza and Saqqara. These docments had become obsolete after the royal cemetery was transferred back to Saqqara under the last rulers of the Dynasty. The case of Akhetaten, the newly founded capital of Akhenaten in middle Egypt, is more complex. Shortly after the death of the so-called heretic king, an entrie city was abandoned, never again to be inhabited. Although the city- dwellers—wheather they were officials, priests or trades-men—took their personal property with them, specifi- cally religious objects were left behind as were, of course, houses, workshops and other functional buildings. The extir- pation of Akhenaten's memory and the Aten-centered faith he had propagated meant that not places of worship ultimately demolished in the Nineteenth Dynasty. Most of the royal stat- uray was also destroyed. It is only due to luck that the many images of Ahenaten and his family from the workshop of thutmosis escaped the per- section of the pharaoh's successors. Were just not considered important enough; most of them were bozzettos or components of atatus and as such either had no official character or were not yet cones- created for religious purposes. In the course of a normal change of government these pieces would usually have been disposed of because Sculptural wark would now de reserved for depictions of the new king. When the chief scuiptor, thutmosis, left has vast compex of workshops however, he did not bother to take this trouble, preferring to leave the now useless and ideologically embarrassing images of his dead mastretotheirfate. This,* negative choice,* combined with the fact that the city was never resettled, provided the German archeologist Ludwig Brochardt with a dramatic discovery . in December 1912, in room 19 houes 47.2 (the site's sober grid refrece), he unearthed the *workshop of thutmosis,* the establishment of the most trusted sculptor in Amarna. . Magnificent portrait bustes and other statue parts of the royal family—mainly of Nefertiti and the princesses---came to light in quick success- soin. They were generally made from yellowish to red-brown quartzite, the preferred material for royal sculptures during the Amarana period Alongside completed works were others whose unfinished state documented the artist's Working processes. All the sculptures in stone were made for so-called composite figures which meant that the head and extremities were inserted into an existing body made from a different type of stone. Other details, such as the crwn, could be made separately from faience, pate de verre or even precious metals and these gave the statues an indefinable air of divine majesty. Also of great interest were 20 model heads made from gypsum plaster; which included portraits of Akhenaten and their wives. One of the heads is claimed to be that of ay, eminence grise at the Amarana court and later king ( 1321—1319B.C.) only after intensive invest- tigations was it revealed that the plaster heads were in fact casts produced from clay models. They were kept in the studio and used as templates for manufacturing other status. The most magnificent of all the workshop finds is, without doubt, the world famous painted limesone bust of Queen Nefertiti. The harmonious features of the queen's face speak of a timeless ideal of beaty and bear no traces of the expressive images of the early Amarana period. She wears a high crown with diadem and uraeus—the so-called bonnet of Nefertiti—as well as a multi-reowed collar of stylized flowers. The left eye of the piece is missing, a flaw which emphasizes the character of the bust as a sculptor's model. Efforts by the German archeologists to locate the missing eye were ultimately unsuccessful; it had, fact, never been inserted in the first place. Already Borchardt had reached this conclusion when he wrote that *no trace of an adhesive can be detected in the hollow of the eye; also the back- ground is smooth and has not been carved in any way toreceive an inlay. * when the finds were officially distributed in 1913 by the Egyptian authorities, the Nefertiti bust went to the Berlin businessman, james Simon , who had financed the German Oriental society in Amarana. Simon gifted the piece to the Prussian state in 1920. Since then the bust of Nefertiti has become a treasured icon for the culture of ancient Egypt, a position she shares only with the pyramids in Giza and the boy-king Tutankhamun.

 
Beni Hassan

The collapse of the Old kingdom at the end of the sixth Dynasty spelled the end of Egypt's first centralized state which broke down into smaller, regional powers. In the ensuing period,
 
Tomb of Kheti
Twelfth Dynasty, ca.1960 B.c.
The no march Kheti bore the title *Great Leader of the Gazelle Nome in its Entirety* the hall-like room (c. 39 ×16 m) with its gently vaulted ceiling is divided at the rear of the cult chamber by two rows of columns.
 
Tomb of Baket
Twelfth Dynasty. Ca. 1980 B.c.
Girls juggling
Baket, another no march , had a tomb very similar to that of his son Kheti. In the case of the father however the large room (14 x 54 ft. 12.5 x 16.5 m) was divided by only two lotus stem columns,
 
Tomb of Amenemhet
Twelfth Dynasty, ca. 1920 B.c.
The tombs of Amenemhet is without doubt one of the finest in Beni Hassan. The cult chamber is organized by four rows of 16- sided ,
 
Tomb of Khunmhotep
Twelfth Dynasty, ca. 1880 B.c.
The funerary architecture and wall paint- ings of Beni Hassan reach their final peak in the tomb of Khnumhotep. This tomb- owner held high office under Amenemhet II and Senusert II as *Mayor of Menat- khufu*
 
Tell el-Amarna

King Akhenaten called his new capital Akhetaten, *Horizon of the Aten* and ordered it to be builit in a broad valley basin on the eastern bank of the Nile. Today, the site lies around 9 miles (15km) south of his reign the king had resided in thebes as Amenophis IV .
 
The Temples of Aten
Eighteenth Dynasty, ca. 1345 B.C.
The visitor who today looks at the areas formerly occupied by temples in the central city of Aketaten will scarcely be able to conceal his disappointment .
 
The North palace
Eighteenth Dynasty, c a . 1345 B.C.
The large number of palaces in Akhetaten raise the question as to which of them served as a home for Akhenaten and his family.
 
Tomb of Merrier
Eighteenth Dyansty, ca. 1340 B.C.
Royal couple at the Window of Appearance
A total of 25 tombs belonging to court offi- cials were hewn from the rock in the hills surrounding Amarana .
 
Tomb of Ay
Eighteenth Dynasty, ca 1340 B.C.
Married couple worshiping
Know as *the god's father,* Ay was one of the most influential officials at the Amarana court. .
 
Boundary stela
Eighteenth Dynasty, ca. 1345 B.C.
The decree founding the new capital was recorded on14(15) huge rock steal which encircled the city and also served as boundary stones.
 
The Workshop of the Sculptor Thutmosis

The far-reaching political changes which occurred intermittently throughout Egypt's long history represent a window onto the past and offer excellent archeological potential for modern scholar.
 
Hermopolis and Tuna El-Gabel

Capital of the 15th Egyptian *Hare* nome, the city of Hermopolis lies some 186 miles (300 KM) south of cairo on the west bank of the Nile.
 
The Basilica
Coptic,5th century
The gigantic basilica of Hermopolis which gave its name to nearby kom el-kenisa (Hill of the Church) is among the largest (around 213 feet; 65 m long ) of the churches built in early Christian Egypt.
 
Baboon Figure of Thoth
Eighteenth Dynasty, ca.1380 B.C.
Fragments from originally eight colossal boboon figures made of brown quartzite were salvaged from the foundations of the Ptolemaic thoth temple; they had benn donated to the court temple during the reign of ,
 
Tomb Chapel of petosiris
Late 4th century B.C.
The history of the tuna al-Gebel nercrop- oils begins in the New kingdom, although the character of the Area is determined by its Greek and Romanbuildings.
 
The lbis Catacombs
Lateperiod/Ptolemaic period, 6th-1st century B.C.
TA short distance from the tomb of petosiris the visitor can descend, through an unre- mark able entrance, to the subterranean galleries of the animal cemetery.
 
   
Discover EL Minya

El Minya is called the 'Bride of Upper Egypt' due to its location which is roughly at the border of Upper and Lower Egypt. With more than 4 million people living here, the governorate is quite large.
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EL Minya Map

The city of El Minya in Egypt is located at a distance of 153 miles from Cairo, where the Upper Egypt ends and Lower Egypt starts.
EL Minya Monuments

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