A Site Visit on our Day Off

Peter Lacovara and Janice Kamrin

This morning, Egyptian President Sisi and Chinese President Xi Jinping toured the West Bank, but we had distinguished visitors of our own: Cornelius von Pilgrim, Director of the Swiss Institute for Egyptian Architectural and Archaeological Research in Cairo, stopped by to visit Malqata before heading to Aswan. He came with his wife and colleague, Beatrice, and the Deputy Director of the Institute, Wolfgang Müller.

Peter explains the Palace plan to Cornelius von Pilgrim, Beatrice von Pilgrim, and Wolfgang Müller

Cornelius has been working at the ancient town of Elephantine for many years. The building remains here date back to the first dynasties and continue through the Roman Period. Both to protect the ancient remains and to prepare the site for tourism, Cornelius and his team have pioneered the restoration and presentation of mud brick. Now open for public visits, the town provides a wonderful picture of the development of an ancient Egyptian settlement over the centuries. For more information on the site see: Elephantine: Archaeology of Ancient Egypt

It was great to see Cornelius, and to discuss our plans for the Palace site with him. And as a bonus, we got to see an entire cavalcade of Chinese and Egyptian dignitaries roar by in their buses and black sedans, on their way back from visiting sites on the West Bank.