Second Pylon - Ramesseum
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36113180@N00/4366238681/
Reconstruction going on inside the temple of Rameses II, Luxor Egypt
The Second Pylon (wall) at The Mortuary temple of Rameses II known as The Ramesseum. As you can see there’s considerable work being done to this day at these temples. The work was begun sometime in the 1800’s and will still be going on long after we are gone. There are so many temples and so much work to be done that it’s amazing anyone can even keep track of it all. That job falls to the Supreme Council of Antiquities who oversees all of the sites relating to ancient Egypt.
Here workers are stabilizing the second pylon and it’s huge Osirid Statues. Work is also progressing on documenting the hieroglyphs which is an amazing process that puts HDR tweaking to shame in its complexity. One of my only regrets from this trip and it’s a small one, is that I didn’t climb up this scaffolding for a shot of the shattered colossus which lays just off frame right.
The problem with the second pylon and in fact with all of these amazing temples is that for all of their knowledge, the ancient Egyptians built these amazing Sacred Spaces right on the flood plain of the Nile. This means that they are all sinking, leaning, and in some cases in danger of toppling over altogether. This is the second rehab that’s been done to the second pylon. I’m having difficulty determining exactly WHO is doing this current restoration. As of late the Swiss have been very active in the Luxor area working on a variety of locations including the open air museum over at Karnak, so I’m blaming them. :-)
Learn more:
www.sacred-destinations.com/egypt/luxor-ramesseum.htm
Submitted By: cammyjams
Feb 19, 2010 10:56 PM
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