Civilization and religious motives of sculpture conservation and restoration methods in Egypt, past and present

Abstract

The maintenance and restoration of monuments is not a new concept, it has been known since the ancient times when man got to know the value and importance of such, which led him to protect and preserve them. The motives behind restoration of monuments; religious, cultural or social ones, varied according to the age and the human culture, but the ultimate goal has always been protecting the monuments from damage and preventing them from extinction. The ancient Egyptian knew monument maintenance and restoration; King Khaemwaset, son of King Ramesses II, was famous for restoring the monuments of his ancestors. After the age of the Pharaohs, Greek and Roman kings attached importance to maintaining and restoring their religious facilities and its murals, the Karnak Temple is a clear evidence of this. This in-depth research tackles methods and techniques of maintaining and restoring sculpture for cultural and religious motives aiming at preserving history and its social implication as well as the national identity in the face of new intellectual and cultural currents that seek eradicating the people's culture and identity. The research gives two examples of maintained and restored monuments in ancient and modern time in Egypt; Sphinx and the Karnak Temples. Research problem: The research problem lies in observing the diversity of the main motives for maintaining and restoring artistic monuments in ancient and modern times in Egypt, despite the fact that the purpose has always been protecting the monument and maintaining it in good conditions. These questions then arise; Do the distinct motives for maintaining and restoring monuments in Egypt during different ages affect the restoration methods and techniques? Do restorations operations on monuments help preserve peoples’ identity and nationalism against new cultural currents? Research objective: The research aims at highlighting the importance of maintenance and restoration operations in ancient and modern times to preserve the national heritage through generations. It also sheds a light on the modern restoration methods that adapt the latest scientific techniques and underlines the importance of the motives that led to the emergence of the restoration science. Research methodology: Historical comparative and analytical approach. Conclusions: The researcher concluded that: Unsuitable restoration materials for stones were wrongly used in the past; this was recently avoided by applying modern scientific methods and techniques. Artistic and aesthetic values of the monument are tightly attached to the historical ones of such, even if this requires replacing the missing parts of the monument, so long as it do not hinder its authenticity, taking into consideration the peculiarity of the elements and that of the added parts.