The BA Organizes a Lecture on the "Reassembling and Reconstruction of Khufu’s Boat"
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The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, affiliated to the Cultural Outreach Sector, organizes a lecture entitled “The Reassembling and Reconstruction of Khufu’s Boat: A Reading through the Archive of the Restorer Ahmed Youssef” on Tuesday, 26 November, 2019 at 12:00 pm, in the BACC Room C. The lecture is moderated by Dr. Mohamed Abdel Rahman, General Director of Training and Scientific Administration at the Project Sector of the Ministry of Antiquities, and delivered by Dr. Eman Nabil, Supervisor of the Restoration of Wooden Coffin Project at Lahun.
The lecture discusses the phases of the restoration and documentation process of Khufu’s first boat, made of Lebanese Cedar wood, from its discovery to its reassembling and restoration. Prior to that process, the boat was disassembled, meticulously arranged, and put carefully in 13 levels according to its 651 principal parts, which were divided into 1224 wooden pieces, the biggest of which was 23 meters long and the smallest 10 cm. The smaller parts of the boat were made of local wood, comprising only about 5% of all the wood in the boat.
After lifting the boat from the pit under the supervision of Zaki Iskandar, Ahmed Youssef, the Head Restorer of Khufu’s Boat, fully documented every part of the boat; he photographed and meticulously sketched every piece according to the levels discovered in the huge sketches divided into four main squares for the different directions of the boat.
In addition, he documented the archaeological signs and symbols inscribed on the wooden pieces and on the sides of the pit and set up sketches of the full assemblage process with a pre-assemblage plan that accurately explains the minutest of details. This process of accurate documentation contributed to the success of reassembling the boat.