The Ruins of Preservation
Conserving Ancient Egypt 1880-1914
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4850792 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Gange (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 226 |
| Issue | suppl 10 |
| Pages | 78-99 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Past & Present (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-2746 • E-ISSN: 1477-464X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pastj/gtu025 |
| OpenAlex | W2312596033 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
The rhetoric of preservation began to suffuse the archaeology of Egypt in the late nineteenth century. Amelia Edwards’ best-selling travel narrative, A Thousand Miles up the Nile , is sometimes considered to have instigated ‘modern’ attitudes to the preservation of Egyptian monuments. 1 In some ways this judgement is appropriate: unlike her pronouncements on race (shocking even by contemporary standards), Edwards’ attitudes to conservation can be reduced to statements that still sound modern enough: The wall paintings which we had the happiness of admiring in all their beauty and freshness are already much injured. Such is the fate of every Egyptian monument... The tourist carves it over with names and dates... The student of Egyptology, by taking wet paper ‘squeezes’ sponges away every vestige of the original colour. The ‘Collector’ buys and carries off everything of value that he can, and the Arab steals it for him. The work of destruction, meanwhile goes on apace... The Museums of Berlin, of Turin, of Florence are rich in spoils which tell their lamentable tale. When science leads the way, is it wonderful that ignorance should follow? 2
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Art history · Beauty · Egyptology · Greeks · Ignorance · Judgement · Literature · Narrative · Painting · Political science · Rhetoric · Value (mathematics) · Archaeological Research and Protection · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Law · Philosophy · Photography and Visual Culture
| Citations per year | 0.4 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |