German House (Thebes)

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The German House in Thebes , painting by Carl Wuttke , approx. 1908/1909

The German House is an excavation house of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo in Thebes, Egypt . Its oldest predecessor was built in 1904 by the German Egyptologist and architect Ludwig Borchardt . It is therefore one of the oldest buildings of its kind in German archeology .

history

Ludwig Borchardt, "Scientific Expert at the Imperial Consulate General for Egypt", had the two-story building erected amidst extensive pharaonic cemeteries and in the immediate vicinity of the Valley of the Kings on the west side of Thebes as comfortable accommodation for up to ten people. It was inaugurated on December 24, 1904 by a small group of Egyptologists and archaeologists . In the first ten years it also served as a guest house for employees of international research institutions and artists. With the excavation project of the Egyptian Museum Berlin in Deir el-Medineh and in the plain south of the village of Shekh Abd el-Qurna (the "southern Asasif"), the German House became a regular excavation house of the Imperial German Institute for Egyptian Archeology, founded in 1907 . The First World War resulted in the army authorities of the British colonial power having the German House demolished in 1915.

According to Borchardt's plans, it was rebuilt in 1925, as with the first building from a mixture of public and private funds. In 1939, the beginning of the Second World War broke off diplomatic relations. The German House was occupied and closed. It was only returned to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1958 . In 1961 a restoration took place with funds from the German federal government. Then new excavation projects began, about 1963 the excavations in Asaif , from 1969/1970 the work in the cemetery of el-Tarif in the temple of Seti I as well as the enterprise " Theban civil servants' graves ".

Current building complex, aerial photo, 2017

Over the years the building had been so badly damaged that the decision was made to demolish it in 1983. In November 1984 a new building was put into operation, consisting of two buildings arranged around an inner courtyard. This facility was restored in 2013 using cultural preservation funds from the Federal Foreign Office . The German House is still committed to the international spirit and is open to academic guests from all over the world.

In addition to the German House, there are several other excavation houses built by foreign institutions in Luxor, including the “Metropolitan House” built in 1912 (now also known as the “Polish House”) or the “Carter House” of the British Egyptologist Howard Carter von, which has been accessible as a museum since 2009 1910.

Web links

literature

  • Daniel Polz : The German House in Theben: "The possibility of thorough work and fresh creativity." In: G. Dreyer, D. Polz (Ed.): Encounter with the past: German Archaeological Institute Cairo 1907-2007 , Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2007, pp. 25–31 (English translation available online )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sylvia Peuckert: Hedwig Fechheimer and the Egyptian art . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-05-005979-2 , p. 77 (footnote 327) and p. 78 (Fig. 8a) - book in the Google book search
  2. Metropolitan House at Luxor: an historical account, website of the t3.wy foundation for research into the history of Egyptology, accessed on March 6, 2017 (English)
  3. Howard Carter: Castle Carter II, website of the t3.wy foundation for research into the history of Egyptology, accessed on March 6, 2017 (English)

Coordinates: 25 ° 43 ′ 39 ″  N , 32 ° 36 ′ 26 ″  E