The Luxor Obelisk and Its Voyage to Paris PDF
Preview The Luxor Obelisk and Its Voyage to Paris
The Luxor Obelisk Apollinaire Lebas, born 1797, “A delightful work, outlining the story of an obelisk’s journey in the Transporting the Luxor obelisk from Egypt to was a French engineer who nineteenth century from Egypt to Paris, replete with technical details LEBAS Paris was one of the great engineering triumphs in 1830 was charged with and endearing insights into the travails and tribulations endured by the transferring the western of the early nineteenth century. No obelisk this team that moved this massive monument. Brier and Sumner’s notes obelisk at Luxor Temple to the and its voyage to paris size (250 tons) had left Egypt in nearly two also provide historical insights into the adventure of the obelisk.” Place de la Concorde in Paris. thousand years, and the task of bringing it fell He was widely celebrated for —Salima Ikram to a young engineer, Apollinaire Lebas, a man this achievement. Distinguished university professor of extraordinary resolve and ability. His is a tale of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo AT apollinaire lebas Introduced and translated by of adventure, excitement, and drama, but one Bob Brier is a senior research N Bob Brier and Colette Fossez Sumner h hardly known to the English-speaking world. fellow at the C.W. Post D campus of Long Island “When I stand in front of Luxor temple, I see the four standing e Lebas’s team was struck by the plague; they and two seated statues of Ramses the Great. In front of them is I University. He is the author T ran out of wood; they had to wait four months one obelisk. The people with and around me know the second L of seven books, including The S for the Nile to rise to free their beached ship. Murder of Tutankhamen, and obelisk is in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, but they never Vu But in the end, the Luxor, with its precious cargo hosted the TLC series The know the great story of this obelisk. This book tells us the Ox Great Egyptians. magical story about the deal between Egypt and France, Yo on board, sailed down the Nile and across the and how this magnificent monument was removed to A Mediterranean to France. On October 25, 1836 r travel along the Nile and eventually all the way to G before 200,000 cheering Parisians, Lebas raised Colette Fossez Sumner Paris. The narrative is full of passion, thrill, and EO his obelisk. He was rewarded handsomely by is a linguist whose native adventure regarding one of the most iconic T language is French. She his king, a medal with his name on it was struck, monuments of Egyptomania in the world.” Ob teaches in the Department and his body lies in the famous Père Lachaise e of Romance Languages —Zahi Hawass P Cemetery in Paris along with other French Al and Literatures at Hofstra Egypt’s former minister of state Ri luminaries. Now this first-ever translation of University. s for antiquities Ik Lebas’s account, including digitally enhanced S copies of his beautiful technical drawings, makes his remarkable story available to a wide Front: The obelisk being raised on October 25, 1836 audience. (from The Graphic, September 29, 1877). Back: The lowering of the obelisk, as drawn by AUC Léon de Joannis (from Campagne du Luxor, 1835). The American University in Cairo Press PRESS Printed in China www.aucpress.com 23 mm The Luxor Obelisk and its voyage to paris The Luxor Obelisk and its voyage to paris apollinaire lebas Introduced and translated by Bob Brier and Colette Fossez Sumner The American University in Cairo Press Cairo New York Title page: Caricature of Apollinaire Lebas by Jean-Pierre Danton, 1839; the hanging stocking is a visual pun—bas is French for “stocking”; courtesy James LeBas First published in English in 2021 by The American University in Cairo Press 113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt One Rockefeller Plaza, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10020 www.aucpress.com First published in French in 1839 as L’Obélisque de Luxor. Histoire de sa translation à Paris. English translation and introduction copyright © 2021 by Bob Brier and Colette Fossez Sumner All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN 978 1 617 97995 8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for 1 2 3 4 5 25 24 23 22 21 Designed by Jon W. Stoy Printed in the United States of America For William Joy T O l he belisk Of uxOr The story of its journey to Paris DescriPTion oF The Works ThaT iT requireD, WiTh an aPP enDix on The calculaTions on The aPParaTuses useD For conveying, embarking, hauling, anD erecTing DeTails oF The Places WiTh resPecT To The lanD, The science, cusToms, anD TraDiTions oF ancienT anD moDern egyPT FolloWeD by an excerPT oF The Work oF FonTana on The moving oF The vaTican obelisk by Mr. A. LebAs naval engineer, curaTor oF The naval museum, oFFicer oF The legion oF honor each people in turn has enlightened the earth, by the laws, by the arts . . . (voltaire, Mahomet, act ii, sc. v) Paris clarian-goeury anD vr. DalmonT, eDiTors PublisheD by The royal corPs oF briDges, roaDs, anD mines quai des augustins, nos. 39 & 41 1839 Contents Translators’ Introduction xv Translators’ Acknowledgments xix Introduction 1 Part 1 Departure — crossing of the vessel Luxor — lowering of the monument Chapter 1 First negotiations about one of the egyptian obelisks — The opinion of mr. champollion the younger on the obelisks of luxor — The mission of mr. Taylor in egypt — The giving to France of one of the obelisks of luxor by the viceroy — construction of the vessel Luxor — Preparations for departure 11 ix
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