The project was initiated in 1998 on the Westbank of Luxor, under the auspices of the DAIK and the SCA. The abandoned site was threatened by ground water, salt, vegetation, fires and vandalism.
After being selected as one of the ‘100 most endangered sites’ by the World Monuments Watch in 1998/99 and 2004, emergency conservation work was comprehended in the ruins of the devastated temple, starting with full documentation and treatment of all visible remains. The ground water was lowered in the Peristyle Court and Hypostyle Hall, making possible the preservation of pavement parts and architectural remains, the mounting and presentation of fragmented and dispersed monuments, the conservation of large royal and divine statues and the recovery of pieces from wall and column decoration.
Moreover, at the Second and Third Pylons, beside the discovery of the partly preserved brick structures, thousands of colossal statue fragments were recovered and saved from destruction and theft. Two colossi in quartzite have been reassembled, restored and mounted at the Second Pylon, while two others have been raised at the North Gate of the temple precinct. A pair of unique alabaster colossi are also virtually reassembled and await new funds to be raised at the Third Pylon.
After a long-range conservation plan in the Peristyle Court, a site protection project is in progress, foreseeing the hand-over of this area to the Egyptian authorities as a new touristic venue in the future.
Present cooperation partners: German Archaeological Institute, Cairo branch (DAIK), Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Armenian Academy of Sciences, Charles University Prague, Sekhmet Project Vatican, SCA – Mahmoud Moussa, director of antiquities at the Westbank.
Cooperation partners over years: SCA/MoTA Egypt, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Munich, Institute of Geology Ain Shams University, American Research Centre in Egypt, Armenian Academy of Sciences, University of Bamberg, Theban Harbours and Waterscape Project, Charles University Prague, Sekhmet Project Vatican.

An architectural and photogrammetric survey of the Memnon Colossi was carried out in 1989-90 (see the report by Rainer Stadelmann in MDAIK 57, 2001, 271-280; results in MDAIK 59, 2003, fig. 4-7).

1996: Devastating fire in the temple of Amenhotep III, peristyle court. Inspection of the site and discussions with the local authorities regarding its preservation.
1997-1998: Preparation of an emergency salvage of the consequences of the 1996 fire, which triggered the start of the actual conservation project. Laying the foundations for immediate salvage and long-term conservation measures.
Autumn 1998: SCA approval for work in the temple area, start of cleaning, defoliation and documentation.
Since 1998 the following tasks have been realized:
The Memnon Colossi were examined, cleaned and geologically and stability-wise assessed by Pons Asini, SWECO, Kärcher and Fritz Wenzel (see report in MDAIK 59, 2003, 438-446, fig. 4-7, pl. 76).
Preparation of the topographical map of the area in collaboration with COMMAP under the direction of Franz Schubert of the German Institute in Manching in cooperation with the technical school in Deggendorf, see report in MDAIK 60, 2004, 215-223, pl. 25, topographical map on folding plates 1-2.
Following the recovery and conservation of the surface finds and statues, the understanding of the site required archaeological investigations. These led to the discovery of further architectural structures and statues, which were included in the conservation project.
Drainage project: The conservation of the peristyle court was threatened by rising groundwater levels, with salt and vegetation attacking the fragile sandstone remains. A dewatering project was therefore initiated for the entire site, and in 2005, following preventive excavations, a first phase of the dewatering project was carried out in the area of the peristyle court and the hypostyle hall (see report in ASAE 60, 2006, Part III, pp. 414-412, figs. 5-15, fig. Ia).
The architect and monument conservator Nairy Hampikian immediately planned a site management project to present parts of the site to visitors in the future (see the report in ASAE 85, 2011, Part III, pp. 487-504, Figs. 75-85). This project was then approved by the SCA and presented again to the Secretary General of Antiquities, Dr. Mostafa Waziri, in 2022 who positively and enthusiastically evaluated it.
The condition and stability of the Memnon Colossi have been constantly monitored in recent years, with various investigations: Photogrammetry, geology, archaeoseismology, structure, stability, polychromy, geology, history, art history.
Regular small archaeological sondages around the bases of the colossi bring to light pieces that have fallen from the colossi, which are put back in place, and provide information about the soil and foundations.
The colossi have been monitored regularly and show no signs of movement or tilting. In 2022 and 2023, photogrammetric surveys with laser scanning enabled close monitoring and yielded the excellent result that there is no movement. Older records of the colossi, from antiquity to the present day, continue to be collected. The search for connecting pieces found around their bases during small archaeological sondages continues.
On the second pylon, lower parts of the mud-brick pylon wings and parts of the sandstone gate were found and secured; two colossi of royal quartzite were erected, and new fragments found around their bases are gradually being added.
On the third pylon, a pair of travertine colossal statues (Egyptian alabaster) of Amenhotep III were virtually reconstructed from thousands of scattered fragments. Documentation, 3D scans, groupings and compositions of components as well as cleaning and consolidation work and the conservation of polychrome remains were carried out. The head of the northern colossus shows an admirable portrait of Amenhotep III, and the queen standing next to the right leg testifies to the great skill of the sculptors of this reign. The bases of the alabaster colossi consist of huge granodiorite blocks decorated with personifications of foreign countries and bearing several place names. Two complete blocks and numerous fragments were recovered, six new blocks were partially reassembled and six further blocks were brought back to the temple from Karnak South, where they had been reused in the late period. The raising of these monuments is going to be realized as the water table is lowered and their foundations are consolidated.
On the back of the third pylon, two monumental sphinxes were found during restoration work on the mud brick wings of the pylon, which probably mark the beginning of a processional way. They consist only of heavily decomposed limestone masses that have sunk into the salty groundwater and are overgrown with reeds and camel thorn. To remove them, they were enclosed in reinforced plaster moulds, then lifted onto sledges and brought to solid ground, where they were left to dry. After a long process of cleaning and consolidation of the most important pieces, the heads of the two sphinxes emerged, bearing the headdress of Nemes, while the chest was inscribed with the names of Amenhotep III. The conservation work was led by Benjamin Blaisont.
In the courtyard of the peristyle, the paving and sandstone architectural remains were desalinated and consolidated after being mapped. A monumental stela was reassembled from more than 200 scattered fragments and erected. Standing royal colossal statues in quartzite and red granite are gradually being placed in their original position and supplemented by numerous new pieces, some of which were brought back from the SCA’s storeroom near the Carter house. A quartzite head, reconstructed from scattered fragments and completed with two eyes – one from an SCA storeroom, the other brought back from abroad as it was too fragile to be placed in situ – is now on display at the Luxor Museum of Egyptian Art.
In cooperation with the Gurna Inspectorate and the Scientific Committee of the SCA storerooms, numerous other objects were returned to the site, including a stela from year 6 of Horemheb, which was found broken into six pieces by the Swiss Institute in 1970 and stored in the SCA storerooms after initial restoration treatment. The stela has now been fully reassembled and restored and is back at the entrance to the Peristyle courtyard.
In addition, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Gurna Inspectorate, a pair of striding royal colossi made of quartzite was recovered and successfully placed outside the archaeological concession at the north gate of the temple precinct. This operation was jointly led by Mohamed Abdel Maksoud, Abdelhakim Karrar and Mohamed Abdelaziz (see Antike Welt 2014/4, 48-56; Antike Welt 2015/2, 79-82; ASAE 88, 2021, 212- 213, fig. 3, XII-XIII; 251-252, pl. XIX-XX).
Investigations in and around the peristyle courtyard have continued and the courtyard has now been fully investigated and mapped.
Thanks to archaeosismologists from the Armenian Academy of Sciences, new evidence of the earthquake has been found and deposits of statues have been uncovered among crushed sandstone remains. Most of them are granodiorite sculptures, including parts of Sekhmet statues, a beautifully carved granodiorite torso of Ptah and the feet of a striding statue of Amun, as well as a colossal head of a falcon-headed deity made of alabaster.
In the hypostyle hall, the foundations of the columns of the northern half were uncovered in a mixture of rubble from various backfills from successive excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries, as were the surrounding brick structures, which may have been scaffolding to raise the columns. Further statues of Sekhmet were found buried there. After cleaning and documentation, these statues are transported each season to the SCA’s official storage facilities in Gurna, where the team of restorers carry out spectacular reassemblies of the scattered pieces. It is planned that these statues can be exhibited as part of the site management project.
In addition to the documentation and restoration work, a comprehensive “Sekhmet Project” is being carried out in collaboration with the Inspectorate of Gurna, the Scientific Committee of the Theban Magazines and the Vatican Museums in order to document all the Sekhmet statues in a database, in which the Museo Egizio Turin and the Mut Temple Projects are also participating. A first symposium on Sekhmet took place in Luxor in 2017, and a second is planned.
The project to manage and protect the site was successfully continued by Nairy Hampikian. More security cameras have been installed on the site and monitored by the supervisory authority. Fences and information boards have been erected around the working areas and ongoing studies are being carried out to prepare for the opening of parts of the temple to future visitors. A wall of pisé (rammed earth) gradually surrounds – in the lower part – the peristyle courtyard in place of the original wall to indicate its location and protect the monuments in the courtyard. Inside the rammed earth wall are interior rooms for the future display of temple material and for the storage of fragments. Within the courtyard, all the decorated pieces recovered from the destroyed walls and columns are fully documented and prepared for publication and display. Grouped thematically, they show parts of ritual scenes and episodes from the Sed festival of Amenhotep III.
While the rammed earth walls allow the sifted rubble from successive excavations to be recycled, the layers of black earth that covered the ruined site during the floods are in turn recycled and used on site to make mud bricks. These bricks are the same size as the originals found in the remains of the pylons and mud-brick walls of this temple. They help to keep the traditional methods alive – they are stamped ‘Memnon’ to distinguish them.

The research was carried out in the following areas:

• Primarily conservation issues and investigation of conservation methods by qualified conservators with experience in museums and archaeological sites.
• Studies on the different materials to be treated on the site: Sandstone, quartzite, limestone, granodiorite, travertine, mud brick.
• Research into the temple architecture and investigation of the structure of the pylons.
• Research into the causes of the destruction of the temple, as revealed by the traces of the earthquake.
• Research into the growth of vegetation – camel thorn, reeds and alfa grass – in the temple precinct.
• Research into ways of deterring birds and preventing them from nesting on the monuments.
• Research on the typology and purpose of the temple statues.

In all of the above-mentioned research disciplines, the aim was to improve the environmental conditions by trying to find out the causes of destruction and to find methods for conservation as well as for the preventive implementation of conservation.

• Architectural remains, architectural fragments, all types of artifacts and fragments of statues are documented by measurements, photographs, sketches, precise drawings, epigraphy and 3D scans if necessary (apps used are Agisoft / Metashape).
• Documentation of the excavated areas through photography, mapping, 3D scans (apps used are Agisoft / Metashape). Analysis of the archaeological situation on all excavated sites.
• Use of physical methods – geomagnetic, geoelectric, radar – around the Memnon, the Third Court and the North Gate to detect buried structures.
• All finds will be added to the project’s general database, which included over 47000 documented entries of architectural fragments, blocks, stelae, statues, statue fragments, pottery and other artifacts.
• Conservation of all finds through careful and gradual cleaning, desalination and consolidation where necessary.
• Conservation and excavation is always carried out according to the rules laid down in the international charters and preferably using traditional methods.
• No completion or addition of missing elements unless absolutely necessary for the structural safety of the conserved artifact and, in the case of mud bricks, for reasons of protection.
• The use of a rammed earth wall (en pisé) with a height of 2 m around the peristyle courtyard, in the place of the original walls, is dictated by the fact that it is neutral, unlike the stone originally used, whose size and details we ignore. The rammed earth wall represents the enclosing wall of the peristyle court, which has now completely disappeared. The material used for the rammed earth wall is the remains of the upper alluvial layers of the excavation zones in the area of the peristyle court, which, according to international conventions, we are not allowed to throw into areas outside the site. It is therefore a recycling process.
• The production of sun-dried bricks is another recycling process that uses the remains of the upper alluvial layers of the excavated zones. The bricks are made according to traditional ancient Egyptian methods and are used to cover the original bricks in the brick structures of the second and third pylons. There specially made bricks of the same size as the originals protect them; however, they are recognizable as they bear the modern “Memnon” stamp to distinguish them from the original bricks. In other cases, they are used to build low mastabas in which the sandstone blocks are temporarily stored, treated and documented.
• The site uses local craftsmen for its daily activities, such as excavation, conservation, stone masonry, brick making, etc. In addition to the obvious economic benefit for the local community (providing 4 to 5 months of work annually for over 300 workers of all specialties), the site has also contributed to the training of extremely talented young restorers who have gained great practical experience and theoretical knowledge over the years through their work with various experts.

• The ultimate aim is to publish all research results through publications. Regular reports have been published in major archaeological and Egyptological journals as well as conference proceedings; and final publications in various formats are in preparation.
• Archaeoseismological research has been carried out with the aim of finding and demonstrating evidence of earthquakes and dating the phenomenon.
• In the environmental field, thorough research was carried out into how groundwater was lowered for 3 m and successfully performed by funds of ARCE.
• Attempts were made to find ways to drive away birds and pigeons without damaging the monuments.
• Vegetation growth was an important area of research, trying to eradicate the ever-growing camel thorn, reeds and alfa. Thanks to Dr. Mahmoud Moussa, director of antiquities at the Westbank, positive results on eradication of camel thorn has been achieved.
• The architectural research consisted of determining the size of the pylons, at least their length and width, as the height is almost impossible to determine, even by comparison with existing pylons at other sites, which are all different.
• The archaeological finds required a thorough investigation of the location of the scattered artifacts, especially the numerous statues of the goddess Sekhmet, to try to determine their location and define the purpose of their large number in the temples of this dominion.
• As a corollary to this branch, material surveys were carried out to determine the quarries and to understand the choice of material for certain categories of artifacts.
• Quarries were visited at Gebel Ahmar, Aswan, Gebel Tingar, Gebel Gulab and Hatnub to determine the origin of the stones.
• The collaboration with the Vatican Museums as part of the “Sekhmet Project” and the cooperation with the archaeological missions on the East bank of Luxor in the temples of Amun in Karnak and Mut in Karnak South, which includes the exchange of information and research on the Sekhmet statues, leads to a typological categorization and also implies petrographic studies of the granodiorite.

• The Salvage of a temple that was dissolved and left in the fields. Its last remains were threatened by the effects of the surrounding agriculture, irrigation water, loss of material due to salt crystallization, vegetation, fires, vandalism, etc.
• Thanks to the drainage project, the water level was lowered by 3 meters, allowing the architectural remains to be preserved and the monuments to be rebuilt on the excavated areas (stelae, quartzite and red granite colossi, etc.).
• The development of a site management project with long-term conservation plans to be gradually implemented in the cleared and mapped areas.
• A complete documentation, condition survey and regular monitoring of the Colossi of Memnon. Continuous monitoring with good results of the last photogrammetry by laser scanning, which showed no change in their condition.
• The installation of two toppled and fragmented enthroned quartzite colossal statues of Amenhotep III, of which the southern one was previously unknown.
• Grouping, processing and virtual reconstruction of two similar travertine colossi, which can be reassembled and erected once the water in the area has receded.
• The discovery of the exact position of the second and third pylons on the site, the lower parts of which are now protected with modern bricks of the same size as the originals.the exact position of the second and third pylons on the site, the lower parts of which are now protected with modern bricks of the same size as the originals.
• The recovery of two monumental sphinxes made of very fragile limestone, which had been buried, broken and submerged in muddy water attacked by salt and vegetation and gradually melted. After careful and painstaking restoration, their heads and chests were recovered, while parts of their bodies were saved in reinforced plaster moulds and are ready for treatment.
• A complete mapping and investigation of the peristyle courtyard, now protected by a low rammed earth wall. Conservation of the architectural remains and re-erection of the standing royal statues in red granite and quartzite. Return, conservation and display of blocks scattered elsewhere and two stelae from the SCA’s official storage room in Gurna. Implementation of the site management project within the courtyard to exhibit architectural remains, column and capital pieces, decorated blocks, statues and sphinxes, etc.
• A partial uncovering and investigation of the hypostyle hall with new findings about its size and contents. – Salvage and re-erection, at the North Gate of the temple precinct, of two fragmented quartzite statues of Amenhotep III in striding attitude, which were lying-in privately-owned lands and increasingly damaged; site managed and handed over to the SCA in 2016.
• Regular reports on all the works in specialized journals, and preparation of the final publications in various formats.
• Finally, all this work over 25 years has helped to recognize the features of a temple that had been obscured by years of neglect.

Ministry of Tourism and Antiquity

DAIK

JGU Mainz
American Research Centre in Egypt
Armenian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geology
Charles University Prague
Sekhmet Project Vatican