EXHIBITIONS

Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, Egypt, Advance Notice
An exhibition of new tapestries for sale will be held at GALLERY 47, 47 Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3PB, (Opposite the British Museum), 11th November - 22nd November 2008.
Open daily including Sunday, 16th November between 10am & 4pm

The proceeds of this forthcoming November 2008 exhibition of new tapestries for sale will go to the Art Centre which is facing difficult times after the devastation to the adobe mud-brick buildings caused by the rising water table.You can see pictures of the damage if you visit the website www.wissa-wassef-arts.com . Ramses Wissa Wassef was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1983 for his remarkable achievements.

If you would like to receive an invitation to the Private View to be held on Monday 10th November from 4-8pm, please contact Barbara Heller, Phone: 44 (0)20 7267 1034, e-mail: barbara@wissa-wassef-arts.com

"The Orientalists"
Invitation to Opening of Mathaf Exhibition at Waqif Art Center, Doha, 20 Nov 2008

Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed Al-Thani, the Mathaf Gallery, London and the Waqif Art Center (WAC), Doha, are pleased to present an important exhibition of Orientalist Paintings (both 19th Century and Contemporary) at the Waqif Art Center from 20 November to 4 December 2008. The Exhibition, sponsored by HSBC, is planned to coincide with the opening of the Islamic Museum in Doha and to offer a cultural exchange of art and artists.

The Mathaf is famous for its expertise in 19th Century Paintings of the Arab World, showing customs and traditions sometimes long forgotten – a part of a history of the region. The exhibition will contain works by well-known 19th Century artists, such as Rudolph Ernst, Franz Xaver Kosler, Addison T Millar, Charles Wilda, and Edward Lear, amongst others. Works by contemporary Arab Artists will be represented by Ahmed Moustafa’s limited edition prints, along with original scenes of Arabia by British artists such as June Bartlett, Terence Gilbert, Peter Upton, Harold Wood and Mike Donnelly. There will also be first edition lithographs of the original paintings of the Holy Land and Egypt by David Roberts.

For additional information, press photographs, etc. please contact Brian MacDermot (Chairman), Mathaf Gallery, 24 Motcomb Street, London SW1X 8JU. Tel: + 44 (0)20 7235 0010 Email: art@mathafgallery.demon.co.uk

http://www.mathafgallery.com

The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting 1830-1925
This exhibition, which ASTENE members have enjoyed at the Tate Britain and on which ASTENE held a study
day with Leighton House in London is due to move on to the Pera Museum, Istanbul, from October to January 2009.The exhibition then moves to Istanbul (23 September - 4 January, 2009) and to Sharjah Art Museum in February / April 2009. See the commentary on the exhibition and its catalogue below.

Babylon: Myth and Truth
Two worlds in one exhibition: the myth of Babel and the facts of Babylon. The truths revealed by archaeology expose the roots of western culture – focusing on one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Over 100 exhibits gathered from the British Museum, the Louvre, the Reunion des Musees Nationaux and the Municipal Museums of Berlin move from the Pergamon Museum in Berlin to the British Museum, to open on 13 November.

Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
This exhibition considers the lives of royal and ordinary Egyptians revealed by over 200 objects and works of art up to the late Roman period. It also tells the story of the archaeologist (and traveller) Sir Flinders Petrie (1853–1942), one of archaeology’s greatest pioneers. The exhibtion ends on 2 November at The Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida.

Napoleon and Egyptomania in Tennessee
This exhibition, curated by ASTENE’s Elaine Evans, focuses on the growing obsession with Egyptomania in the wake of Napoleon’s Expedition, and its lasting influence on design in 19th–20th-century America and Europe. At the Frank H. McClung Museum, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, until 18 January 2009.

Byzantium: 330–1453, Royal Academy, London, 25 October 2008–22 March 2009
The aim of the Royal Academy’s ‘blockbuster’ exhibition this winter is to show the thousand plus years of the civilisation of Byzantium in a fresh light. Visitors will see ‘a horde of glistering treasures’, many hardly seen or never seen before by the public in the UK – or elsewhere.

The Royal Academy brings in 300 objects from a hundred sources, some never loaned before. Pieces are coming, for example, from St Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, so may be familiar to some members – like the Ladder of Divine Descent, for example. The exhibition promises to enrich our education and to be a feast for our eyes. Forward booking is advised.

Father Justin, whom some of us met at St Catherine’s Monastery on a recent ASTENE trip, will be giving a lecture at the Royal Academy to accompany the Byzantine exhibition. The lecture is entitled ‘A Sinai Illuminated Manuscript of the Heavenly Ladder: Spiritual Ascent through Art’ and will be delivered at 6:30 on Friday, 13 February 2009. Booking advised, on 020 7300 5839.

Renaissance in Pharaonic Egypt: The Last GoldenAge of the Pharaonic Egypt is represented though statues, stelae and other tomb furnishings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, until 9 November.

Catastrophe! The Looting and Destruction of Iraq’s Past considers both the looting of the Iraq National Museum and the continuing looting of archaeological sites, which poses a great threat to the cultural heritage of Iraq and the world. The exhibition shows the damage and destruction, the routes by which looted artefacts leave Iraq for art markets, and the recovery efforts of the Iraq Museum. Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, until 14 December.

Shrunken Treasures: Miniaturisation in Books and Art highlights small-scale manuscripts and rare books, ranging from Books of Hours and copies of the Koran to almanacs and books of poetry, and explores the many reasons for minituarising art. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, until October 2009.

Evet: I do! German and Turkish Wedding Culture and Fashion, 1800 to Today
This exhibition juxtaposes the customs and clothing of what is a most important occasion, when a simple ‘I do’ changes lives – from the 19th century to today. Museum fur Kunst und Kulturgesschiichte, Dortmund, Germany.

Homer: The Myth of Troy in Poetry and Art presents the historical Homer and the extraordinary influence of his epics. Reiss–Engelhorn Museums, Mannheim, Germany, until 18 January.

Art and Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum, 9th–7th centuries BC
An exhibition exploring the emergence of the Assyrians as the dominating power in the Near East. Museum of Fine Art, Boston, until 4 January 2009.

Wonderful Things: The Harry Burton Photographs and the Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun
An exhibition of 50 of Harry Burton’s photographs explained. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. Opens 15 November.

Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium BC focuses on the extraordinary art of this period, with 350 objects from palaces, temples and tombs as well as a unique shipwreck. Many materials have been recently excavated or never shown abroad. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, From 18 November 2008 to March 2009.

Beyond Boundaries: Islamic Art across Cultures
The long awaited opening exhibition of Qatar’s new Museum of Islamic Art, Dohar, from 22 November.

National Museum, Athens: the Egyptian Collection
The National Archaeological Museum in Athens, long famous for its world-class collections of Mycenaean gold and Classical sculpture, now adds to its glister with a new permanent exhibition. For only the second time since WW2, its virtually unknown collection of Egyptian antiquities reappeared to public view on 14th May, in a remarkable and remarkably in-depth exhibition of 1125 of its total 8350 artefacts, ranging from the Predynastic through the Roman periods. The shortlived earlier exhibition displayed only 310 objects.

Although small, the NMA collection is choice. Its majority stems from the donations of two discerning expatriate Greek collectors: Ioannis Demetriou of Alexandria in 1880 and Alexandras Rostovich of Cairo in 1904, supplemented by several Ptolemaic coffins presented by the Egyptian government in 1894 and other smaller donations over the years.

Many artefacts are virtually unknown in the literature and some are unique: a nearly half-metre long Predynastic granite statue of a hippopotamus, an almost metre-long Dynasty V wooden statue of a servant-woman grinding grain (a single piece of sycamore), a pair of Middle Kingdom copper-alloy ships, mast finials, and solid sheet-gold Ptolemaic mummy trappings. The Greek press' favourite is a bread-loaf dating to the New Kingdom - with a single bite gone. Whilst many objects have no provenance beyond 'Egypt', others derive from specific and sometimes well-known locations such as the Dynasty 19 tomb of the artist Sennedjem at Deir el-Medineh.

ASTENE members will be interested also in the related biographical research of Vassilis Chrysokopoulos documenting the lives and travels of some 80 early Greek collectors and Egyptologists , most previously unrecorded. I am trying to persuade him to present a paper on Demetriou and Rostovich at next year's ASTENE conference in Durham.

Jacke Phillips

The Ancient Egyptian Gallery, Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow re-opened last year after extensive restoration and redisplay. Much of the material was excavated in the 1890s.

Zagreb Archaeological Museum, Croatia has a newly opened Egyptian collection including the renowned 'Zagreb mummy'.

Babylon A fascinating interpretation of the history and legend of the ancient city in about 2300BC and to evaluate its influence on later ages. Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin from late June.

Overlapping Realms: Arts of the Islamic World and India, 900-1900 The works displayed emphasise the influences of shifting kingdoms and empires. Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University until winter 2008..

Ancient Cyprus a new permanent display at the A.G. Leventis Gallery of the Danish National Museum, Copenhagen.

Catastrophe! The looting and destruction of Iraq's Past is an exhibition exploring the looting o the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad and the ongoing looting on archaeological sites - and the routes by which articles meet the art markets. Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago to the end of the year.

Three Faces of Monotheism considers the similarities and contrasts of the shared symbols of Christianity, Islam and Judaism represented in antiquities and the development of monotheism in the ancient world. Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem.

The Archaeological Museum, Bologna has reorganised the Greek section of its collections. Among much else part of the collection was assembled by the artist Pelagio Pelagi (1755-1860).

Roman Ships In 1989 Roman ships were discovered almost intact near Pisa. Following restoration they can now be visited by appointment three days a week at the Centro del Restauro del Legno Bagnato. See www.navipisa.it.

Wonderful Things: the Harry Burton photographs and the Discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun offers more than 1400 black-and-white images documenting the finds in the Vallry of the Kings. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atalanta, Georgia until late November.

The Horse shows how the long relationship between horses and humans has changed warfare, transport, trade, agriculture, sport and many other facets of culture. American Museum of Natural History, New York until 4 January, 2009.

Beyond Boundaries: Islamic Art across Cultures is the opening exhibition of Qatar's new Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar until 22 November.

‘Pearls to Pyramids: British Visual Culture and the Levant, 1600-1830.’ Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut,
The exhibition, which is currently showing at the Yale Center, is complementary to the Orientalist exhibition but unfortunately, will not be coming to Britain. The exhibition examines the development of British
trading interests in the Mediterranean and introduces the geographical and historical context of the Mediterranean trade with paintings by Sir Peter Lely and the William van de Veldes (father and son), and through early travel accounts that expressed and inspired fascination with Eastern societies. The impact of commodities such as coffee and silk is examined through prints, broadsides, and illustrated books. Selections from the Center’s diverse holdings reflect the burgeoning interest in the classical and biblical sites of the Near and Middle East that took hold in the eighteenth century, including works by Benjamin West and J. M. W. Turner to architectural drawings made on scholarly expeditions. The exhibition concludes with an examination of the increasingly militaristic cast to the British presence in the Levant in the nineteenth century, beginning with visual responses to Admiral Nelson's victory over Napoleon in Egypt.

‘Delicacies from Cairo! The Egyptian collection of the confectioner and coffee house owner Achille Groppi (1890-1949).’
At the Museum August Kestner, Hannover, until the 4th May 2008. From the 16th October 2008-15th May 2009 the exhibition moves to the joint-organiser in Basel: the Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig.

In 1890 the Swiss Patissier and Chocolatier Giacomo Groppi (1863-1947) opened his first private business in Alexandria. Although Groppi soon made enough money to retire, he lost much of his fortune in the financial crash of 1907. So, in 1909, the company was re-established in Cairo under the name ‘Maison Groppi’. In 1925 Giacomo and his son Achille Groppi (1890- 1949) opened the famous shop and coffee house on Soliman Pasha Square (today Midan Talat Harb) in the middle of Cairo. The House and parts of the former interior of the cafe in the Art Deco style have been preserved – and are nodoubt well-known to ASTENE visitors to Cairo. From the early 1920ies Achille Groppi acquired a considerable number of ancient Egyptian objects, many of mosaic glass from the Ptolemaic Period (4th-1st Centuries BC). Although some important pieces were sold – as the ‘Per-Neb Collection’ – during the 1990ies at Christie’s in London, the Groppi Collection is still an outstanding collection of Egyptian small objects. Many of the 160 objects in this exhibition have never been shown in public previously.

There is an exhibition catalogue by Christian E. Loeben and André Wiese, Köstlichkeiten aus Kairo! Die ägyptische Sammlung des Konditorei- und Kaffee-haus-Besitzers Achille Groppi (1890-1949). 179pp; 262 plates; price: 30.00 Euros.

Treasures: Antiquities, Eastern Art, Coins and Casts at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, presents the most significant objects in the Museum's renowned collection, until the end of 2008.

Objects of Instruction: Treasures of the School of Oriental and African Studies: Islamic manuscripts, ceramics, African textiles, and archaeological finds. Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London..

Treasures of the Ashmolean Antiquities, Eastern Art, Coins and Casts runs from 24 May until the end of 2008, While the Museum is undergoing a massive £50 million rebuild - mainly at the back behind the Cockerel Building which is open as usual, as is the Egyptian gallery and the art galleries. The Museum is staging this exhibition to bring together 200 of the most significant objects of these collections - thus allowing the key work of the collection to remain on show.

Lear's View of Jerusalem at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. In 1858 the writer and artist, Edward Lear (1813-88) visited Palestine - achieving a lifetime ambition. There he made careful studies of Jerusalem from the surrounding hills. These were the basis of five paintings of which the largest and most magnificent (1865) was allocated by H.M. Government in 2006 to the Museum from the estates of Captain and Mrs Walthall.

The Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art: If you have not yet seen the newly opened gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, try to be sure you make time for it.

Treasures from Olana opens at Princeton (New Jersey) University Art Museum on 27 January.

Ancient Egyptians is an ongoing free exhibition featuring mummies and treasures at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester.

Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity at the Brooklyn Museum, New York is wide ranging in time and themes, and considers Egypt and its relationship to the rest of Africa.

Arts of the Islamic World Gallery houses a magnificent collection of tiles, textiles, jewellery and paintings reflecting secular and religious life. Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii.

The Tradescant Collection goes home: During the redevelopment of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the original objects from the Museum Tradescantianum, which formed the core of the Ashmolean in 1683, returns to its original home, in the present Museum of the History of Science. Items in that wildly eclectic collection were gathered in the Near East.

Nubian Gallery is a new permanent installation of artefacts including never-before exhibited works and 2000-year-old textiles. Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago.

The Louvre Theme Tours, Paris are organised around 10 subjects, considering period, artefact or location. "The Palaces of the Ancient Near East" was offered on Monday afternoons in November. Other cycles look at Egyptian antiquities, society and nature or the arts of Islam. There is a very reasonable charge.

THE OTHER TUTANKHAMUN EXHIBITION
In Bulletin 19, page 10, I confessed that the lure of the seaside on a summer's day was stronger than my curiosity about Dorchester's Tutankhamun Exhibition. However, during a recent visit to the Dorset Record Office (now being renamed the Dorset History Centre, a title presumably intended to make it more 'user-friendly', but in fact obscuring its function), I made time to see the Exhibition.
The inspiration for this ambitious enterprise was the once apparently immutable decision of the Egyptian Government not to let Tutankhamun's treasures leave Egypt again. Various skilled craftsmen, with detailed reference to the originals, and using wherever possible the same techniques, recreated a selection of artefacts in perfect facsimile. The museum opened in 1987.
Having walked through two rooms devoted to descriptions of the circumstances and people involved, from Tutankhamun to Howard Carter, and extensive coverage of that perennial media-fodder, the 'Was Tut murdered?' controversy, one came upon the life-sized facsimiles of Lord Carnavon and Lady Evelyn Herbert watching Carter, wearing an unfortunate wig, holding a candle to look through a hole in a wall, rounding which one entered the ante-chamber, to see just what Carter saw that day in 1922. Next door, Carter was to be found on scaffolding above the huge sarcophagus, in the act of separating the outer gold coffin from the inner ones. The warm scent of ancient unguents and aromatic oils suffused the air. Lastly, one reached the Treasures - jewellery, exquisite small figures and the Golden Funeral Mask itself. And so out into the shop. I really enjoyed it all.
Dorchester is replete with eclectic cultural treats. The Mummies Exhibition (on when I was there) was a touring one, but further down the main street one can "gaze in awe at the huge Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor of China", complete with multimedia sound and video. Close by are the Dinosaur and the Teddy Bear Museums. Sadly, I didn't have time to visit all these. I had an urgent date with the Dorset Records.

Peta Rée

The Tutankhamun Exhibition is on High West Street, Dorchester; all the others are nearby. All are open seven days a week, 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

June 05

The Ancient Egyptians (and The Mighty Dinosaurs)
Two exhibitions offering everyone's favourite subjects: 'Mummies, coffins, gods and treasures' and 'The power of the great dinosaurs' at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester. Telephone 0116 225 4900 for opening times - daily except Fridays.

September 05

SCHOLARSHIPS and AWARDS

• British School of Archaeology in Iraq Appeal
  The British School of Archaeology in Iraq is working on its own and with other bodies and agencies to safeguard Iraq's world famous heritage.
  The School in Iraq 1932-1990 cannot return there yet, but is assisting its Iraqi colleagues with scholarships, short-term fellowships and material resources to museum and university staff to train in archaeology or related fields and to supply books, materials and equipment for both museums and universities. The first scholars have taken up their awards, using funds already raised. They are now appealing for £500,000. BSAI Appeal, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH, UK. and bsaiappeal@britac.ac.uk
  

April 06

STUDY DAYS, LECTURES & CONFERENCES

Bonaparte and Egypt: Shadow and Light
British Egypt Society lecture by Dr Jean-Marcel Humbert, Heritage General Curator and Inspector of French Museums, at the English Speaking Union, 37 Charles Street, London W1J 5EA. Lecture at 6:30, followed by a drinks reception.

Two centuries after Napoleon’s French army landed in Alexandria, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris is re-examining the French expedition to Egypt and its long-term impact in a major exhibition. Dr Humbert is in charge of the exhibition – ‘Bonaparte et l’Egypte’ – and this is a rare opportunity, not to be missed. Admission is free by ticket from Noel Rands, Secretary of the BES (0208 681 7200 or noelrands@compuserve.com).

Archaeology of the Holy Land: The Contribution of British Scholars
Saturday, 24 January 2009, at Rewley House, Oxford. Introduced by Hugh Williamson, the day includes ‘The Exploration of Warren and Conder in Jerusalem’, by David B. Jacobson; ‘Kathleen Kenyon at Samaria’, by Rupert Chapman; ‘John Garstang at Jericho: A Cautionary Tale’, by Felicity Cobbing; ‘Solomonic Megiddo: The Contribution of PLO Guy’, by Jack Green; and ‘Benchmarks in Archaeology: K.M. Kenyon at Jericho and Jerusalem’, by Kay Prag. To register, telephone 01865 270 368 or email ppdayweek@conted.ox.ac.uk.

Archaeology of the Holy Land: The contribution of British scholars
A study day at Oxford University Department of Continuing Education on Saturday 24 January 2009. In brief: Explorations of Warren and Conder in Jerusalem; Kathleen Kenyon at Samaria; John Garstang at Jericho; the contribution of P.L.O. Guy and K.M. Kenyon at Jericho and Jerusalem. To book: telephone 01865 270368; or e-mail ppdayweek@conted.ox.ac.uk

British Museum Study Programme
Through the autumn and winter 2008–09 the British Museum is offering a series of study days and courses. Those of special relevance to ASTENE members include:

• David Roberts and the Holy Land, 14:00–17:00 on Saturday, 21 February 2009. To mark the bicentenary of Roberts’ death.
• Certificate of Higher Education Programmes: Is not this great Babylon? 11 Thursday evenings from 2 October.
• Isis and Aphrodite in Cleopatra’s Egypt. 11 Thursday evenings from 2 October.
• Byzantine Palestine: The Art and Architecture of Coexistence. 11 Monday evenings from 27 April.
• Beauty and Magnificence: The Imperial Arts of the Ottoman Court. 11 Monday evenings from 27 April.
  

For information and booking, see
www.britishmuseum.org or telephone 020 7323 8000.

Autumn Programme at the Petrie Museum, London
All activities are free and do not need to be booked unless otherwise stated.

• Black Civilisations in the Nile Valley. A new film on Sudan archaeology and black heritage. Thursday, 23
  October, 6–8 pm.
• When We Ruled. Angelina Osborne in conversation – a discussion of Egypt’s place in ancient and medieval
  history in Africa. To be held in GO6, Sir Ambrose Fleming Lecture Theatre, Roberts Building. Followed by
  a drinks reception at the Petrie Museum, 7:15–8 pm on 30 October. Tickets available on first come basis.
• Seminar Lecture: Ancient Egypt and Slavery in 19thcentury United States, by Margaret Malamud. Tuesday, 4 November, 6–8 pm.
• Drawing Egypt – Architecture and Monuments. Workshop on Saturday, 8 November, 1–5 pm. Material provided. Booking essential.

Residential courses at Madingley Hall, Cambridge
Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education runs a large programme of study days and longer courses. To receive their full programme: Madingley Hall, Madingley, Cambridge CB23 8AQ; 01954 280280. www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk. Here are some courses of special relevance to ASTENE.

2008
15-17 August: Crusader Cyprus (1191 -1489)
22-24 August: The city of Athens
1 - 3 September: Mansions of the gods: the temple in ancient Egypt
3-5 October: Deciphering Latin inscriptions
24-26 October: Luxor: ruins and religion
14-16 November: The architecture of Islam - the first 1000 years (course full, so repeat in January)

2009
16-18 January: The architecture of Islam - the first 1000 years
13-15 February: Architecture of the Eastern Adriatic
13-15 March: Alexander the Great

There are many other courses at Madingley Hall right through to summer 2009, but not of especial relevance to our readers.

Melville and the Mediterranean
With the Bulletin comes a Call for Papers for a conference in East Jerusalem 17-20 June 2009: "Melville and the Mediterranean".

Many of us, I admit, knew little or nothing about Herman Melville as a traveller in the eastern Mediterranean and the Holy Land - Jonah and the whale seemed the only connection. Melville went to the Holy Land and wrote his epic poem Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land after the publication of Moby Dick.

Using Clarel as a starting point the conference will open up discussion on travel, literature and other humanities and scientific studies.

The conference organisers suggest a wide range of perspectives and invite 200-400 word proposals for papers, round table discussions and panels. These should reach the organisers by 1 September 2008. (to basem48@vahoo.com).

Egypt Exploration Society Cairo Lectures and field visits.
Lectures are held in the auditorium at the British Council. For details contact Mrs Faten Saleh, EES Cairo Office, c/o British Council, 192 Sharia el-Nil, Agouza, Cairo.
Phone + 20 (0)2 3001 1886, e-mail: ees.cairo@britishcouncil.org.eg

The University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education runs residential courses of interest to ASTENE members at Madingley Hal, near Cambridge. See www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk or write for Residential Courses at Madingley Hall. Madingley, Cambridge CB23 8AQ.
These courses cost about £204 residential weekend or £127 non-residential with meals; longer courses are proportionately more.

• 18-20 July: Ancient Egypt: A Journey down the Nile with Dr Jenna Spillane.
• 21-25 July: The Ottoman Empire with William Tyler.
• 11-13 August: Mapping the Middle Ages with Dr Lucy Donkin, looking at a wide range of cartographical material from illustrated itineraries to mappaemundi.
• 15-17 August: Crusader Cyprus (1191-1489) with James Petre who promises 'a lavishly illustrated' course.
• 22-24 August: Religious minorities in the modern Middle East with Dr Erica Hunter.
• 14-16 November: The architecture of Islam: The first 1000 years with Dr Frank Woodman.
  

The International Qajar Studies Assocation - IQSA
Jennifer Scarce draws ASTENE members' attention to IQSA, an educational and cultural organisation which is a forum for discussion, research and publication on topics relating to the period when Persia/Iran was under the rule of the Qajar Shahs (1785-1925). European and Indian diplomats, military and technical experts, teachers, archaeologists and artists visited Iran in increasing numbers during the 19th century. Their journeys by the overland route took them through regions of direct interest to ASTENE's members and were recorded in their memoirs, official reports and drawings. Here the programmes of IQSA offer a valuable resource.

Membership of IQSA is open to scholars, institutions and the general public ($60). There are annual conferences (most recently in Paris on Diplomats and Travellers in the Qajar Era and a journal, Qajar Studies. See the IQSA website: www.qajarstudies.org

The Frontiers of the Ottoman World: fortifications, trade, pilgrimage and slavery
Dr Robert Morkot reports: The Frontiers of the Ottoman World is an initiative supported by the British Academy. It was launched at a packed two-day symposium held at the British Academy 15-16 February 2007 that was organised by the British Institute in Ankara, the British Institute in Eastern Africa, the British School of Athens, the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, the Council for British Research in the Levant, the Egypt Exploration Society and the Society for Libyan Studies. Papers covered the entire region from Sudan to the Balkans, Libya to the Black Sea.

The longer-term project aims to bring together the research findings of the different schools and institutes that relates to the subject, and to relate archaeological work to the textual evidence.

Institute of Continuing Education, Cambridge
The Institute runs a number of part-time courses which might interest ASTENE members at various regional sites. See more on their web site www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk

We list a few briefly:
Byzantine Art and Architecture - Cambridge; Medieval Architecture in the Mediterranean World - Cambridge; Beginner's Guide to Family History - Burghley House; Christianity and Islam -Bedford; The Religions of Iraq - Burgate; The World's Great Religions - St Albans.

And there are many more fascinating courses on other subjects.

British Travellers and Equestrian Enthusiasts in Great Syria and Arabia Conference
This was held at the new Centre for Studies in the Long 18th Century at the University of Kent in May. Naturally many ASTENE members were involved among the 60 academics, independent scholars, travellers and travel writers, blood stock experts and horse-breeders and others from seven countries who took part.

The papers and the discussion ranged through Anglo-Arab and Anglo-Ottoman relations of trade, diplomacy and artistic reciprocity. The historic range covered early pilgrimage to present day travel - on horseback.

Professor Donna Landry reported to us that "Many unexpected and useful connections were made and exchanges begun across disciplines, specializations, livelihoods, and areas of interest. Many of those attending remarked that it was the most enjoyable and the most multi-disciplinary conference they had ever attended…. and hoped that this will be the first of a series of related events on East-West relations, travel and re-enactment, animal studies and other multi-disciplinary perspectives on the long 18thcentury. A volume of essays based on the conference papers will be forthcoming and will be reviewed in these pages.

Contact D.E.Landry@kent.ac.uk for further information.

EXHIBITION REVIEW
An Illuminated Manuscript of the Heavenly Ladder: Spiritual Ascents through Art
Those of us who visited the Holy Monastery of St Catherine's at Sinai in 2006 will remember the delightful icon of a ladder, upon which some monks climb upwards, while others fall from grace into the power of etiolated but lively black devils. The inspiration for this icon was the representation by St John Climacus, a sixth century Abbott of Sinai, of the spiritual ascent to heaven as a ladder of thirty rungs, each a sin that must be renounced.

To complement the exhibition at the Getty Centre, Los Angeles, 'Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai, on 6 February, Father Justin Sinaites, Librarian of the monastery, used another work of art, a 12th century manuscript, to illustrate St John's theme. Each sin was pictured simply and lucidly, in sumptuous gold leaf and tints of red and blue.
Reflecting the great success of the exhibition, there had been such a demand for reservations for Father Justin's talk, that the venue had to be changed to a larger hall - and that was all but full.

Father Justin also spoke of the decision taken by the last two Abbots of Sinai that the wonderful sacred art of the monastery, previously unseen by any but those who penetrated to this remote place, should be opened up to the world.

Of the greatest advantage to the survival of the art at Sinai was this very inaccessibility, for it was spared not only the early iconoclasts, but also the work of the early restorers. Now, new, less invasive techniques and more humble attitudes prevail among restorers. The unique collection of manuscripts is to be recorded in high resolution digital photography, so that scholars need not handle (and slowly destroy) the originals, the most fragile of which can be sealed away in boxes from light and (in contrast to most places) the lack of humidity at Sinai.

An inevitable result of the new open attitude is the influx not only of pilgrims but of more tourists like us. Even the three hours a day the monastery opens its doors to them - and its new gallery of sacred art - has to compromise the calm and solitude the monks have sought. We must indeed be grateful to their generosity.

April 06
Peta Ree

Interior and Backdrop, 1865 by E.H. Palmer
One of the travellers to the monastery in the 19th century wrote of his impressions ...
The whole effect of the interior of the convent is peaceful and picturesque, and the background is simply magnificent. On the left is Jebel el Deir, with its rugged, pathless sides, and upon a ledge, where the green markings of the smooth surface of the rocks indicate the presence of water, there springs up from a heap of stones (the ruined convent of St Episteme) a solitary cypress, anywhere else this would look an imposing tree, but here it seems a mere dark-green thread against the glowing grey of the mountain-side. On the right rises the shoulder of the Jebel Musa block, stern and gigantic as its neighbour, and in the opening between these wondrous walls the green round summit of Jebel Moneijah stands out in bold relief against the sky.

THE ASSOCIATION OF MALTESE COMMUNITIES OF EGYPT
We remind readers of this Association which has allowed us to publish an article from their newsletter. The Association has its origins in Egypt in 1854 when a small number of Maltese workers grouped themselves around their local church in Alexandria and formed The Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Through the years it expanded its activities to mutual help, benevolent societies, clubs, philodramatic and philoharmonic groups, ladies' unions, Scouts, Guides, football teams etc. in Alexandria, Cairo, Port Said and Suez.

When in 1956 the Maltese, as British subjects, left Egypt, they transferred their welfare and social activities to England and joined into the continuing Association of Maltese Communities in Egypt. The Association continues its work and has a regular AMCOE Newsletter.
Further inquiries to the Hon. Treasurer, Mt Herbert Magri-Overend, 34 Mills Rd, Melksham, Wilts SN 12 7DT.

April 04