Egyptian obelisk begins journey to the Far East
The Northern Echo
AN Egyptian obelisk has completed the first stage of its journey to Japan after being removed from its North-East home of the past 47 years.
Specialists were called in to help ease the 3,000-year-old artefact from its concrete base at the Oriental Museum, in Elvet Hill Road, Durham City.
The structure, which is about 7ft high and weighs about 400kg, was lifted out of the building with a gantry and placed on the back of a truck.
It was driven to a storage depot in the South where it will stay until it is shipped to Japan where it will go on a year-long tour.
The obelisk dates from the reign of Amenhotep II in about 1420BC and arrived at the museum, which is run by Durham University, in 1960, having belonged to the Duke of Northumberland and been displayed at Alnwick Castle.
Museum curator Craig Barclay said it had been expected that the operation would take three days, but had only taken one.
See the above page for more.
- Photo For Today - Luxor Temple At Sunset
This was on New Year's Eve. My father and I had no idea that it was New Year's Eve until an Australian tourist pointed it out. It was a good place to be for a day which neither of us were intending to celebrate. The obelisk outside the First...
- Heritage Management: New York's Central Park Obelisk
Ground Report (Paul Sterne) Here's one I missed from October - a call for the obelisk of Tuthmosis III on New York's Central Park to be moved to the safer and more appropriate environment of the Met. The obelisk was gifted to the United States...
- New Gallery At The Oriental Museum, Durham, Uk
Oriental Museum The Oriental Museum in Durham (part of the University of Durham) has opened a new gallery featuring Egyptian art. Opened on the 10th July 2009, the display includes both familiar objects and items that have never previously been on display....
- Safe Journey... Or Your Mummy Back
The Northern Echo TWO Egyptian mummies were yesterday transported into storage in a less than royal fashion – in a box van. Even though the transport was not the most salubrious on offer, they were treated with the utmost care and deference. Segedunum...
- Egyptian Mummy Prepared For Tour
BBC News Conservation work on a 2,300-year-old Egyptian mummy is taking place at Durham University. Specialists have been examining the body of the adult male at the university's oriental museum, before it goes on a year-long tour of Japan. It was...