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| Carter's house · منزل كارتر | ||
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The Carter's house (engl. Carter House or Castle Carter II, Arabic:منزل كارتر) Is the second place of residence and work of the important British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter (1874–1939) during his stay in Luxor. The house was built in 1910/1911 by George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (Lord Carnarvon, 1866–1923), erected for Carter.
getting there
Getting there is quite easy. From the ticket office in Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna you drive or walk along the asphalt road to the north Valley of the Kings. Shortly after the turnoff to the valley you come to the Carter House.
background
Howard Carter (1987–1939) was a British artist and Egyptologist. At the age of 17 he was part of the team as a draftsman Percy Edward Newberry (1869–1949), for whom he e.g. the redrawings for the graves of Benī Ḥasan and Deir el-Barschā worried. Later he worked as a draftsman for William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942), Francis Llewellyn Griffith (1862-1934) and Henri Édouard Naville (1844-1926). For the latter, for example, he obtained the drawings for the temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Baḥrī. In 1899 he became chief inspector in the antiquities authority in Upper Egypt. During this time he made several discoveries of important graves in the Valley of the Kings like the grave of Thutmose IV, Hatshepsut and Juja and Tuja. After several transfers, he gave up the official job in 1905. He returned Luxor and subsequently worked as a landscape painter and tourist guide.
George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, Lord Carnavon for short (1866–1923), was a British excavator and collector. From 1903 he regularly wintered in Luxor and from 1906 he also had digs for himself. In 1909 he met Carter, and their ways would not part again until his death.
The work in the Valley of the Kings was interrupted during the First World War. The joint excavations by Carter and Carnarvon were continued from 1917, even if the desired success was not achieved for a long time. In November 1922, however, they both managed to find their lives, the tomb of King Tutankhamun. The coffin chamber was opened on February 16, 1923.[1]
Carnarvon fell ill with a mosquito bite in 1923 and died. The "curse of Pharaoh" was born now, if not earlier. While still alive, Carnarvon bequeathed his collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Carter continued the investigations at Tutankhamun's tomb until 1933, even if there were occasional breaks due to disputes with the authorities. In the last years of his life he was unable to do his job because of constant illnesses. He died almost forgotten in London in 1939.
The attraction of their discoveries has not diminished to this day. The grave find of Tutankhamun fills entire halls in the Cairo Egyptian Museum. And hardly a popular science television report about Egypt can do without Tutankhamun today. Without his grave, Tutankhamun would only be known to experts due to his short reign.
Howard Carter originally owned one Living and working house in Madīnat Hābū. Carnarvon, for whom Carter had already worked for two excavation campaigns, donated a new house which is now known as the Carter House or Castle Carter II. It was designed by Carter himself.
Unfortunately, another building is always wrongly identified as the Carter House: about 150 meters north on a hill is the 1 Stoppelaëre house(25 ° 44 ′ 31 ″ N.32 ° 37 '38 "E.). It was founded in 1950 by Hassan Fathy (1900–1989) as the guest house of the Egyptian Antiquities Service and home of the Belgian chief restorer Dr. Alexandre Stoppelaëre (1890–1978, also incorrectly spelled stopplaere). The building is not open to the public.
Tourist Attractions
The 2 Carter's house
(25 ° 44 ′ 20 ″ N.32 ° 37 '42 "E.) was opened to the public as a museum in 2009 after extensive restoration.[2] Most of the exhibits are original furnishings. The museum was supplemented by photos and copies of original documents such as letters from the scientist.
Admission is LE 80 and for foreign students LE 40 and includes admission to the replica of Tutankhamun's tomb (as of 11/2019).
The house was built as a brick structure and plastered. The ceiling is made of wood.
Today's entrance in the west of the house leads through a small entrance hall and the corridor to a domed central hall. All rooms can be reached from here. There is a showcase in the corridor showing an original Bretby brick from 1910. It bears the inscription: "Made at Bretby / England / for Howard Carter / A.D. Thebes 1910."
If one continues straight ahead, one arrives at Carter's bedroom. It is equipped quite spartan. Next to his bed there is only a table with utensils for personal hygiene.
To the left of the central hall is Carter's office. In the middle is his desk. The equipment also included a bookcase, a safe and a radio. Nowadays, portraits of the scientist are hung on the walls. Other exhibits include an umbrella stand and a typewriter.
From his office you can get to the living room. The room is now used for a three-dimensional video presentation. An actor plays Carter and tells the story of the excavations in the Valley of the Kings in a rather relaxed way.
To the right of the central hall, a corridor leads to the dining room on the left. This room also served as a conservation laboratory. In the middle of the room is a round table with a stone top, around it are four chairs. There's an easel in the corner. Additional items of equipment include a cupboard and a bookcase.
Across the corridor was Lord Carnarvon's bedroom. Next to the lord's bed is a smaller bed, perhaps for his servant. Across the room is a wooden chest of drawers, a stove, a fan, and a chair.
Furthermore, one arrives at the kitchen and the darkroom. The kitchen includes a stove and a refrigerator.
The southern part of the house is now used as a café.
kitchen
There is a small café by the museum. There is also a small restaurant in the area of Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna and more in Gazīrat el-Baʿīrāt and Gazīrat er-Ramla as in Luxor.
accommodation
The closest hotels can be found in the area of Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna. There is also accommodation in Gazīrat el-Baʿīrāt and Gazīrat er-Ramla, Ṭōd el-Baʿīrāt, Luxor as Karnak.
trips
A visit to the Carter House can be compared to that of Drāʿ Abū en-Nagā and visiting other official graves e.g. in Sheikh ʿAbd el-Qurna connect. Furthermore, in the south is the temple of Deir el-Baḥrī. And to the southwest, an asphalt road leads into Valley of the Kings.
literature
- : Five years ’explorations at Thebes: a record of work done 1907–1911. Oxford [et al.]: Frowde, 1912.
- : Tut-Ench-Amun: an Egyptian royal tomb; discovered by Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1924. 3 volumes
- : The golden pharaoh: Tut-ench-Amun; the first authentic representation of the greatest archaeological discovery of all time. Bern [and others]: joke, 1978.
- : Howard Carter: The Path to Tutankhamun. London: Kegan Paul International, 1992, ISBN 978-0-7103-0425-4 . Pages 182 to 184, 192 and 452 describe the construction of the Carter House.
- : Hassan Fathy. Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2007, ISBN 978-977-6163-98-0 , P. 98 f; PDF. The Stoppelaëre house is described.
Web links
- Tutankhamun: Anatomy of an Excavation, The Griffith Institute (University of Oxford)
- Which one is the Carter House?, Jane Akshar's blog from September 28, 2009.
- Stupid House, archnet.org
Individual evidence
- ↑Tut-ankh-Amen’s Inner Tomb is Opened, Revealing Undreamed of Splendors, Still Untouched After 3,400 Years, New York Times report, Feb.17, 1923, p. 1.
- ↑El-Aref, Nevine: News from Thebes (Archived version of January 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive archive.org), Report in the Al-Ahram Weekly from November 19, 2009.
