Thebes was very important in ancient Egypt, capital of the New Kingdom (c.1570 – c.1069 BCE), and became the most important center of Amun-Re. This city is located on both sides of the Nile River, the city of living on the east bank, and the necropolis on the west. The Temples of Luxor and Karnak occupy east Thebes while west Thebes, features the most important archaeological sites in Egypt, such as the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the Ramesseum (Temple of Ramesses II), Temple of Ramesses III, Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Temple for Millions of Years of Amenhotep III, and the Colossi of Memnon. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, and “The Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project” host an exhibition entitled “Temple of the Millions of Years of Amenhotep III at Thebes: Twenty Years of Work”. The exhibition will be held from 9–19 January 2018, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Conference Center (BACC), West Exhibition Hall.
The Exhibition features the works of “The Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project” in its twenty years of different preservation activities in the Temple for Millions of Years of King Amenhotep III at West Thebes. The work includes excavations, discovery of artifacts and their immediate conservation, the planning and realization of long-term conservation strategies, and general site management policies. The site team discovered more than 200 statues of the goddess Sekhmet, sphinxes, a hippopotamus, two seated black granite-life size statues of Amenhotep III, and fragments of quartzite and red granite colossal statues of Amenhotep III. In twenty years, the team re-erected discovered fragments in their original setting like the quartzite and red granite colossi at the Peristyle Court, the two quartzite colossal statues at the Second Pylon, and the two standing colossal statues of Amenhotep III at the Northern Gate. The team now is working on the pre-erection activities (excavation, conservation, documentation, research, and structural analysis) of the two alabaster colossal statues at the Third Pylon.
The exhibits will display about 70 panels narrating the history of the Temple through a comprehensive and explanatory photographical collection, acting as a self-explanatory tour of the Temple of Amenhotep III proper through surveying the activities of “The Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project” that works since 1998 under the auspices of the Ministry of Antiquities in The Temple for Million Years of Amenhotep III (1403–1365 BCE) in Luxor, West Bank. The Egyptian–European team, directed by Dr. Hourig Sourouzian under the umbrella of the German Archaeological Institute Cairo, performs investigations and conservation work in the Temple of Amenhotep III and on the Colossi of Memnon, aiming to preserve the last remains of this once magnificent Temple, which was destroyed by an earthquake around 1200 BCE, then quarried away and lay in ruins until recent years.