![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/funerary_enclosure_full-756135.jpg)
Egyptian pharoahs often had funerary enclosures erected at Abydos, separate from their tombs. There were at least 12 others nearby, but this is the only one still standing. It's over 5,000 years old and built entirely of mudbrick. That is no small feat.
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/funerary_enclosure-735049.jpg)
I don't know exactly what the purpose of these enclosures was, but being located at Abydos was very significant. Abydos is associated with the Egyptian god of creation, Osiris. Osiris was an early king of ancient Egypt, and when he died, he became a god, and his son Horus, the new king, was seen as his incarnation. Since then, all living pharoahs were considered to be Horus, until their death when they would become Osiris and have to travel west into the underworld. It just so happens that right here, in Abydos, there is a valley that goes all the way into the deep western reaches of the desert.
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/valley-722205.jpg)
The funerary enclosure is a tall structure with a shorter, outer wall surrounding it, both walls broken by narrow entrances which would have had their doors shut closed.
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/fe_inner_outer_walls-772713.jpg)
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/fe_interiorwall-724109.jpg)
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/fe_inner_wall_paint-760220.jpg)
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/fe_restored_entrance-786824.jpg)
Much of this building is suffering from serious structural damage due to erosion and infestation by mud wasps. Also, there was a time period when Coptic Christian monks lived in the enclosure, and they created bedrooms and kitchens by hollowing out large sections of the thick walls. As a result, some parts of the structure are in immediate danger of collapse. The project team has been conserving these walls by making identical mudbricks (but they are marked to indicate that they are not original) and filling in the structurally damaged areas.
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/fe_unpatched_wall-753879.jpg)
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/fe_patched_wall-782325.jpg)
![](http://www.konradprojects.net/blog/uploaded_images/fe_rebuildingwall-707881.jpg)
That is all for the funerary enclosure of Khasekhemwhy. I will continue my posts of the Abydos excavation sites with images of a funerary chapel and a stone temple for King Ramses II.
2 comments:
wow. so incredible. how have the restored mudbrick parts been marked? upon viewing up close, can you tell which are the restored elements?
You can't see the markings unless you were to disassemble the wall. The bricks are stamped with the initials of the project's research institutions.
You can tell which bricks are restored when you're right there in front of them, but from a distance, they blend in with the old bricks pretty well.
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