Analytical Study of Mural Painting and the Deterioration Problems of the Temple of Medinet Habu

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Luxor, Egypt

2 Faculty of Archeology, San Al-Hagar, Zagazig University, Egypt

Abstract

The ancient Medinet Habu is located south of the Theban necropolis, on the west bank of the Nile River, west of Luxor. Its includes many important monuments, and perhaps the most important of its monuments is the temple of Ramesses III, which he built to record his victories on its walls and to be a temple to Amun. The temple was built from local sandstone. Its walls are decorated with colorful patterns of great delicacy and beauty. These inscriptions were exposed to many different environmental factors and manifestations of deterioration, which had a role in weakening their internal structure and affecting their aesthetic values. The research aims to shed light on these important wall inscriptions and their bright colors, and study their components to find out the most important physical and chemical changes that occurred to their components due to the various forces of deterioration surrounding the temple, in preparation for developing a conservation and restoration plan for these inscriptions and the colored materials on them. Several scientific techniques were used to study the components of the murals in the Medinet Habu temple and the manifestations of their damage, where the mineral composition of its components was studied using X-rays (XRD), The Petrographic study of the stone carrier using a polarizing microscope (PM), and the study of samples using a Scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an EDX unit attached. The results showed that the sandstone consists mainly of quartz, albite, orthoclase, microcline and dolomite. The results also showed information by identifying the types of salts and the features of degradation can be used in the future for conservation purposes.

Keywords

Main Subjects