The Reassembling and Reconstruction of Khufu’s Boat: A Reading through the Archive of the Restorer Ahmed Youssef

The lecture is introduced by Dr. Mohamed Abdel Rahman, the General Director of Training and Scientific Administration at the Project Sector of the Ministry of Antiquities, and delivered by Dr. Eman Nabil, Supervisor of the Restoration of Wooden Coffin Project at Lahun

26 November 2019

12:00 PM

BACC Room C

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum affiliated to the Cultural Outreach Sector organizes a lecture entitled “The Reassembling and Reconstruction of Khufu’s Boat: A Reading through the Archive of the Restorer Ahmed Youssef” on Tuesday, 26 November, 2019 at 12:00 pm at the BACC Room C. The lecture is introduced by Dr. Mohamed Abdel Rahman, the General Director of Training and Scientific Administration at the Project Sector of the Ministry of Antiquities, and delivered by Dr. Eman Nabil, Supervisor of the Restoration of Wooden Coffin Project at Lahun.  

The lecture discusses the phases of the process of restoration and documentation of Khufu’s first boat, made of Lebanese Cedar wood, since its discovery to its reassembling and restoration. Prior to that process, the boat was disassembled, meticulously arranged, and put carefully in 13 levels according to its 651 principal parts, which were divided into 1224 wooden piece, the biggest of which was 23 meters long and the smallest 10 cm. The smaller parts of the boat are made of local wood, comprising only about 5% of all the wood in the boat. 

After lifting the boat from the pit under the supervision of Zaki Iskandar, Ahmed Youssef, the head restorer of Khufu’s first boat, fully documented every part of the boat; he photographed and meticulously sketched every piece according to the levels discovered in the huge sketches divided into four main squares for the different directions of the boat.

In addition, he documented the archaeological signs and symbols inscribed on the wooden pieces and on the sides of the pit and set up sketches of the full assemblage process with a pre-assemblage plan that accurately shows down to the minutest of details. This process of accurate documentation has contributed to the success of reassembling the boat.