DEIR EL-BAHARI: TEMPLE OF TUTHMOSIS III
Branch of the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological and Conservation Mission to the Hatshepsut Temple at Deir el-Bahari.
Dates of work: November–December 2016
Team:
Director: Dr. Monika Dolińska (National Museum in Warsaw)
SCA representative: Mohamed Azaab
Egyptologists: Janina Wiercińska (National Museum in Warsaw), Dr. Andrzej Ćwiek (Archaeological Museum in Poznań)
Photographer: Zbigniew Doliński (National Museum in Warsaw)
Architect: Mariusz Caban (PhD candidate, Wrocław University of Technology)
Conservators: Joanna Lis, Andrzej Karolczak (both National Museum in Warsaw)
Reconstructing the iconograhic program of the decoration of the Temple of Tuthmosis III in Deir el-Bahari, is the main objective of this project and it is an ongoing work since the discovery of the shattered remains of the temple in 1962–1967. The theoretical reconstruction of various temple chambers based on a reconstruction of the painted relief wall decoration is particularly advanced for the Hypostyle Hall, Sanctuary, and Rooms D, G and H. The painstaking process of checking the reconstruction drawings against the surviving fragments continued, coupled with a program for complementing the drawings with high quality professional photographs necessary for the preparation of photomontages of chosen parts of the decoration. A 3D reconstruction model of the temple was made and 26 large blocks and fragments of Osiride statues were documented with orthophotography. Restorers worked on reconstructing from fragments the remaining two decorated blocks from the east wall of the Sanctuary.
Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 26/1