LOOK AFTER EGYPT is a project which intends to make everyone visiting Egypt aware of the necessity of caring for the monumental and historical heritage of the country. The increase in tourism to Egypt in recent years has benefited the Egyptian economy. At the same time the rise in tourist numbers has resulted in damage to buildings, wall paintings and pieces conserved in museums.

Because of this, LOOK AFTER EGYPT will provide guidelines to every tourist visiting Egypt, which stress the importance of respecting the Pharaonic and Islamic heritage.

Guides and local Travel Agencies will play a significant role in this project. They are responsible for the education of the tourist and have to set an example when visiting the temples and tombs, reminding people of the need to protect and conserve the monuments for future generations.

LOOK AFTER EGYPT will impress two main rules on everyone who travels to Egypt:

Don’t touch, interfere with, or sit on the monuments. Please carry your backpack in front of you, never on your back. Grease from fingers will discolor and blemish the paint and stone and can even wear away the surface of the monument. If necessary, place your bag on the ground at your feet while you admire the tomb. The zippers of the backpacks can cause damage to walls as visitors turn around in tight places.

Don’t use flash photography when taking pictures of wall paintings. The flashlight bleaches the original organic colors just like a magazine fades when left in direct sunlight.

The way LOOK AFTER EGYPT works is through a three-part document to be given by the Travel Agency to every tourist. In this document, the visitor will find full information about these rules, on how to avoid damaging the monuments, and on how to report any damage found in order to don’t be timid about letting other visitors know the problems

Destructive action of humidity:

Every tourist visiting a tomb or pyramid leaves behind 20 grams of water. This water comes from the breath and elevates the humidity level inside the monument to the point at which damage may be caused. On bare walls it causes cracks in the stonework and carved decorations. On the other hand, in those monuments with wall paintings, usually painted on limestone, the humidity causes damage in two different ways. Firstly, it causes microorganisms and fungus to grow which destroys the paintings. One of the most famous examples is the tomb of Tutankhamon in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor. Large areas of the wall paintings in the burial chamber have been destroyed by the action of the fungus.

Secondly, the humidity causes salt crystals to form between the rock and the paint, causing the murals to flake off. The most notorious example is that of the tomb of Queen Nefertary in the Valley of the Queens, Luxor. The humidity level inside a normal tomb increases by 30% by the end of the day, but in the tomb of Nefertary the humidity often reached 100% due to the large number of tourists visiting the tomb daily. This caused thousands of salt crystals to form on the walls resulting in serious damage to the murals as the paint flaked away. The tomb was restored during the 1980’s and 1990’s and finally closed to the visitors in 2003, after a brief period of opening to very reduced groups of visitors.

© The Getty Conservation Institute

In these pictures we can see a painting from the tomb of Nefertary before and after the restoration. The salt crystal damage can be seen in the left image where part of the Queen’s face has fallen away. After restoration, the original colors have been recaptured but the necklace of Nefertary has been lost forever.

Destructive action of the flashlight:

The paint employed in the tombs is water paint, which is very fragile and made with organic elements. These paintings are very sensitive to the action of the flashlight. They absorb the flashlight, which transforms their molecular structure and causes a loss in the intensity of the original colors. It is not an instant transformation, but the continuous action of the flashlight on the paintings causes a slow and irreversible degradation in the molecular color structure. The flashlight bleaches the original organic colors just like a magazine fades when left in direct sunlight.

In addition, a photograph never manages to capture the original colors of the painting. Buying a postcard and respecting the monument is better for future generations.

 

In this picture we can see a detail of a group of young dancers with instruments from the tomb of Nakht in Luxor. In recent years the paintings have suffered irreversible damage caused by visitors using flashlight. The pupils of the eyes of the dancers have been lost forever.

 

Destructive action of the direct contact with monuments:

Whenever we touch a monument, a relief or a painting our fingers leave a thin film of grease which can discolor the paint and stonework and in some cases can even wear away the surface. When thousands of visitors leave their fingerprints in the same place, the surface of the monument gets darker.

Even a T-shirted back can polish the walls and erode the reliefs. Also remember never to lean your head against the walls because the grease from your hair damages the painted surfaces.

If we look at the state of the Horus statue at Edfu (top left), we can see how the grease deposited by thousands of tourists touching the falcon while having their picture taken with the god has caused the wing to darken. The same result can be seen on the top right picture of the goddess Sekhmet from the temple of Karnak, Luxor.

 

In the temple of Kom Ombo the heads of the prisoners of Egypt have been completely eroded away by the action of visitors touching the surface of the relief over the centuries. Modern-day visitors continue this tradition believing that everyone who touches the head of a prisoner is cured of any illnes..

 

 

Do not dirty the monumental areas:

 

This seems pretty basic, but anyone walking across almost any stretch of sand in Egypt will see fragments of ancient pottery mixed with modern debris. In such a dry climate, rubbish remains where it is dropped for a very long time. In the picture we can see the original entrance to the pyramid of Zoser at Sakkara contaminated by litter carelessly thrown away by the modern visitors and keepers.

 

 

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