"L'Hebdo", no. 52, 12/23-29/92
Three years ago in Luxor, superb sculptures were brought to light. They can finally be seen.
For a long time, the colonnade of the second courtyard of the Temple of Amon in
Luxor had been threatening to collapse; for a long time, the directors of the
Upper Egypt Antiquities Service had requested that sounding work be undertaken
there. In fact, this site this is one of the most important, and also one of
the most beautiful, of the entire Nile Valley. Built during the most brilliant
period of all of Egyptian history, the New Kingdom, in the middle of the 18th
Dynasty, during Amenophis III's reign (one of those pharaohs who understood, as
did Ramesses II later, that carving one's cartouche into the very heart of the
stone ensured that one earned eternity), the monument bears another illustrious
signature, that of the royal minister and contractor, Amenhotep, the son of
Hapu, who, several years later, would take over the education of the heir
apparent, the future Amenophis IV - Akhenaten.
Finally, one morning, some workers, picks over their shoulders, appeared out of
the hordes of tourists of the formidable but auspicious "high season." Routine
work on a site like Luxor... When suddenly...a miracle!
On January 22, 1989, around 11 am, a pick emitted a clear sound: stone! The
base, then the feet of a statue appeared. Immediately alerted, specialists took
over the small work site. They built a solid fence around it in order to work
undisturbed. Rumors immediately started to fly: "They found gold!" - "It's the
priests' treasure!" - "No, be serious, it's only the foundations of an old
Roman wall!" And soon, there was the stupefying new tomb: a series of superb
sculptures had just been brought to light, all from the end of the New Kingdom,
most likely buried by the priests themselves, at the time of the sanctuary's
refurbishing, apparently around 1290 BC.
"A discovery as important as Carter and Carnavon's discovery of Tutankhamen's
tomb in 1922!" screamed the headlines of the local papers. Just as important as
Montet`s discovery of the unviolated burial place of the 21st Dynasty pharaohs
at Tanis or, closer in time, the discovery of the burial ground of Aper-El,
Amenophis IV's vizier, in the middle of the Saqqara plateau in 1988.
In Luxor, people talked of nothing but the statues. But nobody had yet seen
them, save for the workmen who remained strangely silent, as though the gods'
sovereign beauty had tied their tongues. A local photographer who, until then
had dogged tourists' footsteps in order to immortalize them at the foot of the
obelisk of their choice, became a hero, a status just as sudden as it was
ephemeral, by succeeding in getting over the fence and bringing documents back.
He spent an entire week being flattered, celebrated and adulated (as well as
handsomely remunerated!) as he circulated miserable prints amongst the
enthusiasts, prints so pale and blurred that there was no doubt as to their
clandestine nature, and thus, their authenticity!
Then, the fence came down, the excavation was filled and the statues
disappeared, so discreetly that nobody had the time to intervene. Where had
they been stored? Some people claimed they were in a locked and sealed
warehouse where nobody could bother them; others replied that they were in the
Cairo National Museum, the only one fit to house them; it was even advanced
that they were in a foreign museum, which had already paid millions (it's
always millions when masterpieces are involved) to exhibit them.
Then, less mention was made of them until, finally, nobody talked about them at
all. The statues had been forgotten... Recently, they emerged in all their
glory; the small but superb Museum of Upper Egypt in Luxor, as well it should
have, devoted an entire gallery, a mite theatrical perhaps, but perfect for
showcasing them. What do we find? First of all, a monumental effigy of
Amenophis III, the founder of the Temple in Luxor, less "seductive" than the
ones we already know (Paris, the Louvre -- London, the British Museum), but
radiating a supreme vigor, previously unknown in this aesthetic pharaoh. And
then two statues in black granite depicting Horemheb, the last representative
of the 18th Dynasty who put an end to the disorder engendered by the Amarnian
Schism by governing the Nile Valley with inalienable severity for nearly twenty
years. Until now, we only had two rather insignificant portraits of him; to
discover him here, appearing transcended, gazing straight ahead with an
imperious smile, certain of Amon's approval, at whose foot he reigns, sheds new
light on the person who was wise enough to select an exceptional man as his
successor, the future Seti I. Farther along, the two main pieces: a statue of
Hathor in gray granite, both hieratic and sensual, appropriate for she who gave
birth to the First Day of Creation, and another of Iounit, the tutelary
guardian of the antique city of Iounou, presently called Ermanth, some thirty
kilometers south of Luxor, the cradle and privileged residence of that
dynasty's last monarchs. This Iounit is, moreover, so regal that one can see an
idealized portrait of Queen Tiyi, the wife of Amenophis III and the mother of
Amenophis IV, born in Iounou circa 1385 BC. We are willing to bet that in a
short time, as soon as the specialists have quality photographs, these two
statues will become "classics" of Egyptian art, much as the celebrated
Nefertiti in Berlin or the Nofret in Cairo.
There is one other thing: although they are more than three thousand years old,
these works are exceptionally fresh. They are new! Exhibited perhaps less than
a century in the courtyards or apartments of the temples to which they had been
dedicated, then piously buried, they did not have to suffer, as have so many
others, the damage of time and man; their shape, their finish, their chiseling
(note the acuity around the eyes for example, or the delicacy of the line of
makeup surrounding them) make them treasures which, on their own merits,
justify a pilgrimage to Luxor!
Jacques-Edouard Berger