There is no doubt that though the ninth International Congress of Egyptologists (ICE) is over, the Egyptian presence will continue to prevail in Grenoble. Nevine El-Aref reports from France During the seven-day long congress in Grenoble, the capital of the French Alps was infected with Ancient Egypt fever. Posters of Pharaohs, and of the Rosetta Stone, portraits of three eminent Egyptologists -- Jean-François Champollion in a Bedouin costume, George Legrain, and Selim Hassan with his tarboush (fez)-- were everywhere on display, dominating the city's bridges, trains, bus stations, shops and restaurants. According to Sameh Shafiq, the Egyptologist who worked on the conference's exhibition, during the first week of the opening they had 3200 visitors, but by the end of the second week, the total had already hit 32,000. Starting in January 2005, the exhibition will come to Cairo, where it will be displayed at the Egyptian Museum. While walking along the city's riverbanks, it was easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer density of the images of Karnak on display. They were there to promote three exhibitions which are currently being held in the city to pay homage to the three Egyptologists, by displaying the treasures they discovered, their souvenirs and original manuscripts. Dominating Grenoble, at the top of the Dauphinois Hill, the Dauphinois Museum houses a magnificent collection of artefacts relating the history of humanity in the cellars of the baroque convent of Sainte-Marie- d'en-Haut. On the occasion of the congress, the museum's curved corridors were dramatically lit to provide a dramatic setting for the 28 granite and limestone statues on display, representing just some of the 779 objects discovered by George Legrain in 1904 in the hypostyle hall of the temple of Amun-Re in Karnak. The exhibition plan was simple: walls in mustard colour, the statues in glass showcases atop black wooden stands, while the lighting and music bathed everything in an aura of divinity and serenity. Stepping into the exhibition, the visitor was inevitably stunned by the sight of the huge silhouettes projected on the walls. These are not the statues, but other visitors, as they move around the different halls and shrines. Other rooms feature black-and-white shots of the 1904 exploration activities. Workers are shown in action -- some removing limestone blocks, others brushing the sand off a half-buried statue, others again hauling a thick rope with a huge granite object attached. A portrait of Legrain, along with a short biography, is also flashed up on one of the walls. Jean-Claude Goyon spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly about the design of this exhibition, for which 26 objects were selected from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. He said that they were carefully chosen not only for their artistic beauty or because they were among the treasures found by Legrain, but also because they represent the different ages of Ancient Egyptian society from the 13th dynasty through to the Ptolemaic era. "These objects are a testimony to the ordinary life of the Ancient Egyptian, as they reveal details of clothing, hairstyle and fashion, as well as tradition." Among the most impressive objects on display are the fine limestone statue of Psamtic I, founder of the 26th dynasty, in the shape of a sphinx; a dark gray diorite statue of King Piankhy's daughter Shapenoupet II in the form of a female sphinx holding a small bust of a bull; a white limestone statuette of Amun's musician Taheret with curly hair; and a yellow quartzite statue of Khaemwaset, son of Ramses II, and high priest of Memphis. One particularly beautiful piece on display in the Dauphinois Museum is a black diorite stela dedicated to Ouseramun, an 18th dynasty scribe, which according to Egyptologist Christine Cardin came into the museum's possession in 1916. Before that, it was displayed as decoration in the château of the French Comte Louis De Saint- Ferriol, who visited Luxor in April 1824. Alongside it was an object from the treasures of Ouseramun that was on loan from the Louvre, a white compact limestone statue of the scribe kneeling, which reflects a new style of art that appeared only during the 18th dynasty. A century after the discovery of the Karnak treasure, the mystery behind Legrain's discovery remains intact. We still do not know the reason why such a horde of objects was buried at Karnak, where they lay hidden for centuries. Yet as Goyon says, the discovery was enormously important because it gave Egyptologists a full range of information that could be used as the basis for a chronological approach to Pharaonic Egypt. Another major event was the opening to the public of Champollion's family house, located on the outskirts of Grenoble, at Vif. Everything in this building bears witness to the great man's early taste for ancient languages and his interest in Egypt. To reach the house you pass through a two-hectare park decorated with metal silhouettes in the shape of the 19 images of the hieroglyphic family. At the end of the approach stands a round fountain with a mosaic floor featuring an Ancient Egyptian scene. Champollion's house itself is a simple three-storey building decorated with large wrought-iron windows. As you look at its plain exterior, you would never imagine the treasures that lie inside. The house still contains Champollion's library, with books and documents written in his own hand, his personal quarters, and his wardrobe. All these different elements come together to cast light on this remarkable man. The walls of his bedroom are decorated with hieroglyphic engravings that he drew himself. There is a huge copy of the Rosetta Stone, on which he worked so laboriously for so many years, as well as two paintings portraying the Egyptologist, one in Bedouin costume, the other in an elegant 19th- century French suit. Former Vif mayor Jean Nourey told the Weekly that negotiations to purchase the house began in 1998 and were finally completed in 2001. Champollion's descendants, he said, agreed to sell it for 600,000 Euros, provided it was properly conserved and maintained. At the ALEXPO conference centre, there was an important exhibition celebrating the life and work of a more recent Egyptology pioneer -- Selim Hassan. It featured a dozen of his original manuscripts and some 20 black- and-white photos of Hassan carrying out excavations in Egypt during the 1920s. In some of the photos, we see him working with European archaeologists, while in others he is entertaining rulers and visitors from different parts of the world, as well as members of his family. ( see p.22 )
