The British architect David Chipperfield is either blazing a restoration trail or sabotaging old buildings, depending on which Berliner you listen to.

He is rebuilding a part of Germany's equivalent of the Louvre — the war-damaged Museum Island complex. Chipperfield's project, the Neues Museum, is the third of five museums to be renovated, and will house Berlin's Egyptian collection, including the 14th century B.C. bust of Queen Nefertiti. It will cost 233 million euros ($329 million) to complete and won't open until 2009. Berliners got a preview in an open house from Sept. 22-24 [2007].

The Neues Museum was left to decay after suffering bomb damage in World War II. Chipperfield, 53, is conserving everything that remained without replicating what was destroyed. He is filling in the gaps with a sparse, contemporary style and modern materials — a blend that has won both friends and foes...

Nefertiti's New Berlin Home Wins British Architect Fans, Foes, Catherine Hickley, Bloomberg, UK, September 27, 2007.

Freud was a collector of antiquities — Roman, Greek, and especially Egyptian. He had assembled several thousand, mostly small sculptures, by the time he was forced to flee Vienna for London and was pleased that he was able to take them with him. They filled his consultation room, covered his desk, accompanied him on his summer vacations, and he loved to handle them. As a small boy, he collected toy soldiers, and Burke speculates that their size, easy to fit in the hand, determined the size of the objects he later collected (p. 182).

He lived in the era of great archaeological exploration — Schliemann unearthed Troy when Freud was 15; Evans excavated Minos at Knossos on Crete when he was in his forties, and Carter discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb when he was in his sixties. He compared psychoanalysis with archaeology in a series of metaphors that evolved and became more sophisticated over the years — from uncovering a concealed past to constructing a plausible model of what might have been, consistent with the fragments that had been preserved to recognizing the way in which remnants of varying epochs can become intermixed and the record difficult to dissect.

This would seem to provide an opportunity for an interesting perspective on Freud’s thinking, the way in which his passionate avocation influenced his ideas, and the subtitle of this book’ Sigmund Freud’s Art Collection and the Development of Psychoanalysis, promises just that. Unfortunately, the book itself misses the mark...

, Janine Burke, Walker & Company, 2006, pp. 284.

The Sphinx on the Table: Sigmund Freud’s Art Collection and the Development of Psychoanalysis, Janine Burke, The American Journal of Psychiatry, New York, USA, 164:1620, doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07081291, October 2007.

Our teacher is Dr Karin Sowada. Dr Sowada is a former curator of the Nicholson Museum at the University of Sydney and has worked on archaeological projects in Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Australia. She holds a PhD in Egyptian archaeology and is widely published on topics as diverse as mummification, Egyptian burial practices, ancient ceramics and Egyptian foreign relations.

Recommended reading
Richard Parkinson,
John Ray,
Alan K. Bowman,

Lesson 74: The Rosetta Stone, Dr Karin Sowada, 702 ABC Sydney, Australia, September 26, 2007. MP3 or ReadMedia.

The 136 miles between the capital and Alexandria is one of the busiest routes in the country, plied by buses, trains and despite the relatively short distance - and flights too.

However, the most sensible and comfortable way to enjoy the journey is by train. There are more than a dozen trains per day in each direction, but you should plumb for one of the three Turbini services. These French built trains are reliable and take just over two hours. A ticket costs just £5 each way in first class air-conditioned carriages.

The Espani (Spanish) trains cost the same as the Turbini, but stop at three stations en route, or there are the slower Francese (French) services, which are suburban-type trains that make a lot of stops. For the extra punishment on the slower trains, you'll save about £1 on the fare...

How to get from Cairo to Alexandria, Richard Green, The Times, UK, September 25, 2007.

Pacific Lutheran University faculty member Don Ryan will speak at 7 p.m. today about his team’s discovery of a missing Egyptian queen, Hatshepsut. The talk will be in the Scandinavian Cultural Centre at the Parkland university.

The team’s work has been chronicled by the Discovery Channel. Ryan will discuss finding the tomb and the process used to identify the mummy.

Ryan directs the Pacific Lutheran University Valley of the Kings Project, which focuses on obscure tombs in Egypt. The tomb and the mummy were discovered by Ryan’s team in 1989.

Queen Hatshepsut ruled during the 18th dynasty, between 1502 to 1482 B.C.

Professor to discuss mummy discovery, Debbie Cafazzo, The Tacoma News Tribune, Washington, USA, September 26, 2007.

Ancient Mexicans and Egyptians who never met and lived centuries and thousands of miles apart both worshiped feathered-serpent deities, built pyramids and developed a 365-day calendar, a new exhibition shows.

Billed as the world's largest temporary archaeological showcase, Mexican archaeologists have brought treasures from ancient Egypt to display alongside the great indigenous civilizations of Mexico for the first time.

The exhibition, which boasts a five-tonne, 3,000-year-old sculpture of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II and stone carvings from Mexican pyramid Chichen Itza, aims to show many of the similarities of two complex worlds both conquered by Europeans in invasions 1,500 years apart.

"There are huge cultural parallels between ancient Egypt and Mexico in religion, astronomy, architecture and the arts. They deserve to be appreciated together," said exhibition organizer Gina Ulloa, who spent almost three years preparing the 35,520 square-feet (3,300 meter-square) display.

The exhibition, which opened at the weekend in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, shows how Mexican civilizations worshiped the feathered snake god Quetzalcoatl from about 1,200 BC to 1521, when the Spanish conquered the Aztecs...

It should, of course, be noted that they are talking, here, of similarities but not suggesting that the ancient Egyptians had any contact with the ancient Olmec or Maya cultures. And certainly not the Aztec culture which postdates the Egyptian culture by over 1,500-years.

Snake-bird gods fascinated both Aztecs and pharaohs, Reuters, Africa, September 24, 2007.

Egyptian antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass insisted Tuesday that Tutankhamun was not black despite calls by US black activists to recognize the boy king's dark skin colour.

"Tutankhamun was not black, and the portrayal of ancient Egyptian civilization as black has no element of truth to it," Hawass told reporters.

"Egyptians are not Arabs and are not Africans despite the fact that Egypt is in Africa," he said, quoted by the official MENA news agency.

Hawass said he was responding to several demonstrations in Philadelphia after a lecture he gave there on September 6 where he defended his theory...

Tutankhamun was not black — Egypt antiquities chief, AFP via The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines, September 25, 2007.

Eight baskets filled with fruits preserved for more than 3,000 years have been discovered by Egyptian archaeologists in Tutankhamun's tomb, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Monday.

A team of Egyptian archaeologists, led by antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass, made the discovery in the Valley of the Kings in the ancient city of Thebes, the modern-day Luxor, in southern Egypt.

"The eight baskets contained large quantities of doum fruits, which have been well preserved," Hawass said in a statement.

The fruit baskets are each 50cm (nearly 20 inches) high, the antiquities department said.

The sweet orange-red fruit, also known as the gingerbread fruit, comes from the Doum Palm, a native of southern Egypt, and was traditionally offered at funerals...

Ancient Egyptian fruit hamper found in King Tut's tomb, AFP via Yahoo! News, USA, September 24, 2007.

cf. Fruit hamper found in King Tut's tomb, AFP via ABC News, Australia, September 25, 2007.

cf. New discovery found in Egypt's Tutankhamun tomb, Xinhua via People's Daily, China, September 25, 2007.

Previously:

Baskets, pots found abandoned in Tutankhamun tomb, September 24, 2007

Just as the wheels of progress were turning in the Roaring Twenties, so too were they turning up in all the grand new buildings — along with other highly stylized images of gears, planes and other symbols of the Machine Age.

Art Deco's eclectic, geometric style also incorporated stepped forms and sweeping curves, chevron patterns, flowers and sunbursts. Thanks in part to the discovery of King Tut's tomb, designers of the time were under the sway of ancient Egypt — a touch ironic considering the style's futuristic ambitions.

The term Art Deco itself was derived from the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, held in Paris in 1925, but it wasn't popularized until the late 1960s, by art historian Bevis Hillier...

A Touch of Ancient Egypt That Still Says 'Modern', The Washington Post, District of Columbia, USA, September 23, 2007.

Egypt's Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announced Thursday the discovery of a collection of pillars, reliefs and lintels in the town of Luxor, south of Cairo. The discovery was an accident, as the Egyptian restoration workers were investigating a fire in a mosque and found the antiquities present dated back to the new kingdom and the nineteenth Dynasty (1,304 B.C. to 1,237 B.C).

"This all came by accident as our restorers went to work on the mosque Abou Al Hagag Al Luxory that suffered from a fire recently, and we discovered that the mosque is partially built on the Luxor temple," Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities told reporters.

"We found a large number of pillars and reliefs that were part of the interior walls of the mosque and they belong to the new kingdom. They show very important scenes which will help us understand better the history of the temple." Hawass, who was excited about the new discovery, called it "a rediscovery of the Luxor temple as a whole."

Mansour Boriak, supervisor of Luxor antiquities told reporters that among the reliefs found is one featuring Ramses II while offering the god Amun two obelisks. The others consist of three statues of King Ramses II wearing his royal suit and his white crown.

Important New Ancient Egyptian Discovery Comes By Chance, Manar Ammar, All News headlines, USA, September 21, 2007.

Egyptian archaeologists working in the tomb of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun have found baskets and intact clay pots apparently overlooked when the tomb was cleared out in the 1920s, the government said on Monday.

The 20 clay pots, sealed with Tutankhamun's name, probably contain seeds and the remains of drinks, a government statement said, quoting chief government archaeologist Zahi Hawass.

One of the baskets contains dried fruit and eight others hold almost 60 small limestone plaques also inscribed with Tutankhamun's name in the traditional cartouche format.

They were found in the treasure room next to the burial chamber where British archaeologist Howard Carter found Tutankhamun's mummy wrapped in its golden covers in 1922.

"Carter didn't mention these things in his report but it looks as though his people put them aside and left them in the treasury room," an official at the Supreme Council for Antiquities said, asking not to be named...

Baskets, pots found abandoned in Tutankhamun tomb, Reuters, Africa, September 24, 2007.

Previously:

Tut's tomb yields more surprises, September 03, 2007.

Long before the world had ever heard of Rome or Greece, Egypt was building a civilisation that astounds us to this day. Using only a few simple tools, the Egyptians engineered giant pyramids, fortresses, dams, irrigation canals and temples in the desert sands, laying much groundwork for future architectural work. But the road was not easy, with each of the nation's rulers making his peculiar contributions for better or for worse.

Viewers can now watch the splendour of the ancient empire on The History Channel (Astro Channel 54). This Sunday, catch the premiere of Engineering an Empire: Egypt at 9pm for a closer look at one of the world's most advanced civilisations with its engineering accomplishments.

Using cutting-edge computer-generated images (CGI), the show examines the personalities of the various pharaohs and how they supervised the empire's construction feats for over 3,000 years. From their greatest achievements to their most spectacular disasters, the show looks at both the ingenuity and recklessness of the leaders and builders who engineered the oldest empire in history...

Egyptian wonders, Sharifah Arfah, The New Straits Times, Malaysia, September 20, 2007.

It's saying something when, after decades of National Geographic, PBS, History Channel and giant screen movies on ancient Egypt, the pharaohs and mummies that any new film has any new information.

But Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs, the new large format film opening Sept. 21 [2007] at the Orlando Science Centre's Cinedome, breaks new ground in a couple of areas.

The film, the usual mix of splendid ruins, sand dunes and recreations of life in ancient Egypt, gives us tips on how tomb robbers were able to find burial places packed with riches in those centuries before the first mummies came to light.

If you've seen the PBS Secrets of the Dead instalments on pharaohs, or any of the recent TV documentaries on ancient Egypt, Secrets of the Pharaohs doesn't break enough new ground to warrant the price of admission. But if you can't get enough mummies, and can get too close to one, these Pharaohs come across larger than life, even after death.

Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs, Roger Moore, The Orlando Sentinel, Florida, USA, September 21, 2007.

UNESCO may not be happy with the planned Cairo Financial and Tourist Centre, overlooking the Salaheddin Citadel, but it has approved continued construction as long as its recommendations are met.

After four months of wrangling, plans for the 26,000 square metre Cairo Financial and Tourist Centre (CFTC), located next to the citadel, will now be redrawn. Since plans for the CFTC were first unveiled in February 2006 the development has been the focus of controversy, with the Ministry of Culture, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and archaeologists ranged against the developers, ALKAN Holding Company (AHC), and its Chairman Mohamed Nosseir.

Work on CFTC began in 2006 without the permission of the SCA's Permanent Committee for Islamic and Coptic Antiquities, which had twice refused to license development of the site, first in 2001 and again in 2005. The proposed scheme, said the SCA, constituted an encroachment on the citadel complex and violated Antiquities Law 117/1983.

Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir froze construction at the site in July 2006 following SCA complaints. Two weeks later the SCA's Secretary-General Zahi Hawass called for a UNESCO inspection mission to arbitrate. After touring the site UNESCO officials said construction was so advanced that the point of no return had been passed. Work could therefore continue, it said, but only if AHC abided by a strict building code that aimed to contain the damage already done...

Cut down to size, Nevine El-Aref, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 863, September 20 - 26, 2007.

The Egyptian civilisation has long been admired and imitated, since the Ancient times, but it seems that there is much more to be known, as the show [Ägyptens versunkene Schätze] hosted at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland proves. This time, curators have focused on several pieces, most of them real treasures, found underwater by the French archaeologist Franck Goddio. Over the years, Goddio explored the seabed near the coast of modern day Alexandria and the Bay of Abukir. In ten years the passionate researcher managed to recover an impressive number of artefacts, from 700 - 800 AD, important testimonies of Egyptian culture. Some of these pieces have been carefully prepared and exhibited in the show at the museum in Bonn.

Most of this artworks and objects have sank into the sea due to several natural disasters, and range from monumental statues to coins, jewellery, cult items. Despite being in the water for centuries, some of these have miraculously survived very well. The explorations of Franck Goddio also led to the rediscovery and re-evaluation of important historical places, such as the ancient port of Alexandria with it's quarters, the city of Herakleion or the city of Canopus. In whole, around 500 artefacts have been chosen for the Bonn exhibition, a huge number for such rare and beautiful pieces, covering over 1500 years of Egyptian history, from the last of the Pharaohs to the times of Alexander the Great and the Greek and Roman eras. The quality of the craftsmanship, the uniqueness of the works are representative for the level achieved in the past by the three cities, which were major cultural, trade and religious centres, influential throughout the region. Also, the ancient Egyptian culture and art were deeply influenced by the Greeks and the Romans, so the result was a new and interesting way of living and creating, that in it's turn will change the history and evolution of the region.

The show hosted by the museum in Bonn is a chance of discovering an important and rather mysterious chapter in the history of Egypt, and so far the number of visitors has proven it to be a success.

Egyptian Sunken Treasures, ArtLine, Romania, September 20, 2007.

The King Tut exhibit at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute is to be open around the clock on its final weekend.

The exhibit is to open at 8:30 a.m. a week from Friday and stay open till 11 p.m. the following Sunday.

The Franklin Institute says it's doing this to accommodate increasing demand during the final weeks of the exhibit, called "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."

King Tut exhibit to run round the clock over final weekend, AP via 21 WHP CBS, Pennsylvania, USA, September 19, 2007.

A collection of new kingdom pillars, lintels and reliefs were accidentally found by Egyptian restorers from the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said Thursday.

The monuments were discovered within the internal walls of Abul Haggag El Loxory mosque, built on top of the open court of Luxor temple during restoration operations, Farouk added.

SCA Secretary General Zahi Hawass said the collection dated back to the reign of King Ramses II...

New monuments discovered near Luxor temple, Dpa via Monsters & Critics, UK, September 20, 2007.

Kellogg's is offering the chance for ten families to win a fantastic trip to Egypt with an on-pack promotion to support the London 'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs' exhibition.

The competition, which will appear on family and kids brands, will offer ten top prizes of a family trip to Cairo where they will embark on a private tour with expert Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities of the Cairo Museum as well as a visit to the Valley of the Kings and exclusive access to the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Ten runners up will win a trip for four to the London exhibition. All consumers buying a promotional pack will qualify for a £5 discount on a family ticket...

Kellogg's in on-pack Tutankhamun trip promotion, Kellogg's, Talking Retail, UK, September 07, 2007...

Egyptian archaeologists have found rare medical and astronomical manuscripts at the country's National Library (also known as Dar al-Kotob).

A senior official at Alexandria Library said the ancient documents were just laying forgotten in the Dar al-Kotob archives for many years, but were then "technically rediscovered" due to the efforts of the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT).

"They are really priceless," Egyptian State Information Service quoted the official as saying.

CULTNAT chief Fathi Saleh said the medical papers give prescription of the treatment of some chronic diseases, bone fractures and bruises and lessons in body and eye anatomy...

Rare medical, astronomical manuscripts 'rediscovered' in Egypt's National Library, ANI via WebIndia123.com, September 17, 2007.

Previously:

Rare medical, astronomical manuscripts found at Dar al-Kotob, September 17, 2007.

The 4th annual "Conference on Precession and Ancient Knowledge" (CPAK 2007), sponsored by the Binary Research Institute, is likely the largest meeting of "alternative historians" in the world and one that is sure to raise questions about our past. Many of the authors, researchers and scientists scheduled to present hold unusual theories about history, such as the belief that history may be cyclical with alternating Dark and Golden Ages, a cycle Plato called: The Great Year. This was a belief common to over thirty ancient civilizations but most of us were taught this is just a fairytale; there was no Golden Age. However, , author of Lost Star of Myth and Time will present evidence that it may have a basis in fact, indirectly due to solar system motion. Another presenting scientist, , author of Seed of Knowledge Stone of Plenty, will release a new study showing that the polarity of the stones at Avebury are aligned uni-directionally, indicating ancient peoples had a knowledge of magnetic forces.

Other presenters this year include , the Boston University Geologist famed for re-dating the Sphinx (much older than heretofore believed), , Explorer and best selling author of Fingerprints of the Gods, and other books suggesting our ancient ancestors were more intelligent than most anthropologists infer, , engineer and author of The Orion Mystery, and Emmy Award winning rebel Egyptologist , who suspects ancient Egypt might have its roots in an earlier culture — possibly Atlantis. These are a few of the provocative scientists, authors and researchers presenting at CPAK 2007, an event that offers a new way to look at ancient cultures and their wisdom.

In addition to the private academic meetings, CPAK offers two days of presentations open to the general public. They will take place at Peterson Hall on the UCSD campus this October 6-7...

Authors and Scientists Meet to Rewrite History, Business Wire, USA, September 10, 2007.

The United Nations has objected to plans to build a hotel and offices overlooking Cairo's historic citadel, and recommends the planners scale back by five or six floors, the Egyptian government said on Monday.

UNESCO (the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) said in a report that the high buildings would damage the appearance of the citadel, the mediaeval fortress which for centuries was the seat of the government in Egypt.

"These (the upper floors) would constitute a major infringement on the visual integrity of the citadel," the ministry quoted UNESCO as saying...

The development, known as the Cairo Financial Centre, would include shops, offices, a five-star hotel, an exhibition and conference centre and an entertainment centre, according to the Web site of the developers, Alkan Holdings.

The office of the director of the project, Khaled Nassar, said the company was meeting to discuss the UNESCO recommendations and might make a statement on Tuesday.

UNESCO recommended that the height of the buildings be reduced to 31.55 metres (104 feet) from 59.50 metres so that they do not protrude above the enclosing wall of the citadel...

UN objects to plans for Cairo's mediaeval citadel, Reuters, Africa, September 17, 2007.

Unesco objects to high-rise overlooking Cairo's citadel, Reuters via Gulfnews, UAE, September 17, 2007.

Cairo citadel plans rapped , Gulf Daily News, Bahrain, Vol. XXX, NO. 182, September 18, 2007.

A top official in the Egyptian authority for antiquities has been arrested as part of an investigation into bribes for restoration contracts.

The head of the technical department, Abdul Hamid Qutb, was arrested on Saturday and his office was searched.

The contracts, worth tens of millions of dollars, cover some of Egypt's best known monuments, local media say.

Mr Qutb's boss, Zahi Hawass, defended his department and said Mr Qutb was not in a position to award contracts...

Egypt antiquities official held, BBC News, UK, September 17, 2007.

Traverce Harrison (pronounced "TRAVers") crossed the Atlantic and northern Africa this past March to participate in a photography workshop in Egypt.

He met 30-some other photographers in Cairo, as well as two professional photographers — the teachers, who were an Egyptologist and a translator.

The group flew to Aswan, saw sights on a charter bus, took a two-day cruise getting to Luxor, and then retraced their modes of transport back.

All seen, Harrison took over 500 photos. Each night, the group uploaded photos onto their respective laptops and showed choice ones to the instructors for critique. He learned about Egypt in the meantime and shared a few of his photos with the MP News. At the pyramids in Cairo, Harrison photographed an Egyptian family. The woman's head is covered, but not her face. Harrison noted that though most women in Egypt wear the head scarf, many do not wear the facial veil associated with more socially conservative Islamic nations.

The group dined in numerous establishments including a restaurant that baked its bread and fried its fish in outdoor ovens, of which he got pictures, and in a Bedouin café where they drank real, thick-as-mud Bedouin coffee. "You could put a stick in it and it would sta