Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (12.2000(2001))

DEIR EL-BAHARI

EGYPT

DEIR EL-BAHARI
THE TEMPLE OF HATSHEPSUT
SEASON 1999/2000
Zbigniew E. Szafranski

The restoration project of the Upper Terrace of the Hatshepsut Temple was carried out at
Deir el-Bahari between November 23, 1999, and April 16, 2000.n It was an
extraordinary season with top priority being accorded the preservation work in the Upper
Courtyard and the Bark Hall and facade of the Ptolemaic Chapel in the Main Sanctuary
ofAmun, the facade of the Upper Portico, and excavations in the Northern Chapel ofAmun,
as well as on the Upper Ramp.1 2) This was due to the planned opening of the area for tourists
in early April, concurrently with the 8th International Congress of Egyptologists held in
Cairo. A local opening ceremony attended by Dr. Halaf, Mayor of Luxor, and Mr. Sabry
Abd El Aziz Khater, Director of Antiquities in Thebes (SCA) on the Egyptian side and,
on the Polish side, Prof. Dr. Piotr Wgglenski, Rector of Warsaw University, Prof. Dr. Jan
Madey, Vice-Rector of Warsaw University, and Prof. Dr. Michal Gawlikowski, Director
of the Polish Center, was held on April 3, 2000.
Complementary elements of the main project included the continued recording of the
Hathor Chapel, restoration of the Temple of Tuthmosis III (after a few years’ break) and
the study of the function of the Upper Terrace in the Third Intermediate Period.

1) On behalf of the Mission, the present writer would like to thank His Excellency Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture of
Egypt, for his interest in the temple restoration project, confirmed by visits to the temple during the progress of work. Our
gratitude is also due Prof. Dr. Gaballa Ali Gaballa, Secretary General of the SCA, Dr. Mohammed El-Saghir, General
Director of the Pharaonic Department, Mr. Sabry Abd El Aziz Khater, Director of Antiquities in Thebes, Mr. Mohamed El-
Bialy, Director of Antiquities at Gurna, and Prof. Dr. Michal Gawlikowski, Director of the Polish Center. The staff of the
Polish Centre, especially Mrs. Krystyna Polaczek and Mr. Tomasz Herbich, greatly contributed to the success of the Mission.
Special thanks are due all the team members for their hard work, skill and determination. Expressions of thanks also go to
Mr. Yasser Youssif Ahmed, SCA inspector, and Mr. Ragab Ahmed Yassin, Rais, and his men, especially those of the Egyptian
workers who worked in the afternoons. I thank Dr. Franciszek Pawlicki, the former head of the Mission, for valuable
information and suggestions.
The Mission thanks Commercial Union Polska — Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen na Zycie S.A. in Warsaw for financial
support of the archaeological work in Egypt.
2) Beside the present writer, head of the mission, the expedition comprised the following: Mr. Cristobal Calaforra-Rzepka,
Ms. Monika Czerniec, Ms. Katarzyna Fila, Mr. Rajmund W. Gazda (mission deputy director and Chief Conservator), Ms.
Aleksandra Kann, Ms. Joanna Lis, Dr. Maria Lulkiewicz-Podkowinska, Mr. Stefan Miszczak, Ms. Izabela Uchman, Ms.
Malgorzata Ujma, conservators; Mr. Wojciech Myjak, Dr. Janusz Smaza, Mr. Andrzej Sosnierz, conservators-sculptors; Eng.
Maciej Boruta, Dr. Rafal Czerner, Eng. Piotr D|browski, Eng. Andrzej Kwasnica (Chief Architect), architects; Dr. Joanna
Aksamit, Dr. Miroslaw Barwik, Dr. Nathalie Beaux-Grimal, Mr. Mikolaj Budzanowski, Mr. Andrzej Cwiek, Ms. Jadwiga
Iwaszczuk, Prof. Dr. Ewa Laskowska-Kusztal, Mr. Yasser Youssif Ahmed (SCA inspector), egyptologists; Mr. Tomasz
Gorecki, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Irmgard Hein, Ms. Teodozja Rzeuska, ceramicists; Mr. Maciej Jawornicki, Mr. Waldemar Jerke,
Mr. George Johnson, photographers; Mr. Plubert Chudzio, Mr. Robert Pencak, documentalists; Mr. Maciej Dluzewski, Prof.
Dr. Elzbieta Dowgiatlo-Mycielska, sedimentologists; Mr. Tomasz M. Herbich, geophysicist; Eng. Krzysztof Sukiennik,
light-and-architecture specialist. To all of them my sincere gratitude for their efforts above and beyond the call of duty.

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