Still Them and Us - a Look at the Drawings of the Time Exhibit

Originally published February 25, 2010 | Al-Ahram Weekly Online | by Gamal Nkrumah | Gamal Nkrumah's reaction and analysis of Drawings of the Time: Impressions of Edfu Temple exhibit. An excerpt:

Drawings of the Time: Impressions from Edfu Temple is an exhibition that displays colourful and engaging portraits of high priests of ancient Egyptian Temples. Gamal Nkrumah discovers they tend to be at odds with contemporary art in many respects. These striking images are definitely not the stuff of daily life in the closing years of the Pharaonic era. They have a broader and more aspiring canvas.

The exquisite works of Andalusian artists Asuncion Jodar Minarro and Ricardo Marin Viadel ornament the Egyptian Museum and offer a timely lesson in Mediterranean camaraderie. The exhibition focuses on the miscellaneous aspects of the high priests of the Ptolemaic Period. The focus of this show is art rather than history. And yet the images have quite a tale to tell.

What a difference a couple of millennia make. Two thousand years ago, these images were adored as the very likeness of the living gods. Or those destined to serve the gods. Today they are admired as imaginative and ingenious interpretations of an art of an age bygone. They were worshipped then, and they are viewed with wonder now.

Exhibit - Interpretations of Edfu

Originally published February 9, 2010 | Al-Masry Al-Yourn | by Andrew Bossone | A new contemporary exhibit, entitled Drawings of the time: Impressions From the Edfu Temple, will be showcased at the Egyptian Museum until April 8. It is a modern interpretation of ancient artwork and features drawings from the western staircase in Edfu temple by artists and professors Assunción Jódar Miñarro and Ricardo Marín Viadel. This article divulges the inspiration and development of the exhibit and includes exhibition information at the bottom. Pictures are also included to give you a peek at the beautiful interpretive artwork.

Two Granada Artists at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Originally published January 29, 2010 | Amigos de los Egiptología | An excerpt in its original Spanish (click on the above link to access this article, translated to English; click here to read the article in Spanish):

Dos granadinos serán los primeros pintores contemporáneos en exponer su obra en el Museo Egipcio de El Cairo, y lo harán gracias al trabajo de investigación y reproducción de las treinta y una figuras de los sacerdotes portainsignias de la escalera Oeste del templo Horus en Edfú (Egipto). Asunción Jódar y Ricardo Marín han realizado más de 400 dibujos, la mayoría de ellos a gran escala, de esos sacerdotes, que serán expuestos en el Museo Egipcio de El Cairo a partir del 8 de febrero y, en Granada, a partir del 27 de abril.

Impresiones del templo de Edfú es una muestra de dibujos monumentales que Jódar y Marín llevaban realizando desde el año 2005. La idea de reproducir en pintura los dibujos de los relieves de los sacerdotes surgió, según explicó Asunción Jódar, cuando la pareja de artistas visitaba el templo de Edfú. "Vimos entonces la escalera oeste del templo y me pareció muy especial, sobre todo las 31 figuras que la decoraban. Aquellos sacerdotes me llamaron la atención y pensamos en la posibilidad de dibujar sus imágenes".

The King and I: An Audience with Tutankhamun

Originally published June 28, 2009 | The Independent | by Sankha Guha

One person's account of Egypt par dahabiyya: from standing in wonderment inside the Great Pyramid to gazing in awe into the blinkless eyes of Tutankhamun's funeral mask, from the seemingly inadequacey of the Egyptian Museum to the vastness of the cities and monuments of the dead, into Tutankhamun's tomb and through Edfu and Philae, and out of the suks of Aswan only to be wooed by the setting sun.

The article ends with Nile cruise, Egypt flight, and dahabiyya departure information, should you endeavor to experience the same.

Oriental Institute Trip - Splendors of The Nile

Accessed June 9, 2009 | the Oriental Institute

Travel with the OI par dahabya November 15 through December 1, 2009 with Dr. Nadine Moeller as your escort. Visit famous landmarks and get an in-depth tour of Tell Edfu.

A more detailed itinerary is available for download, which includes trip price, areas to be visited with descriptors, a registration form, and contact information.

AIA Tours - Egyptian Odyssey

Accessed June 8, 2009 | Archaeological Institute of America

Take a fifteen day tour of Egypt, led by Ted Brock, from October 3 through 17, 2009. A tour brochure is provided.