Egyptologists from the University of La Laguna (ULL) are coordinating an exhibition on 19th-century archaeological missions at the Library of Alexandria.

Exhibition poster.

The Museum of Antiquities, affiliated with the new Library of Alexandria, in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in Cairo, has organized the exhibition "Visits to Inspect Antiquities in Upper Egypt and the Eduard Toda Archive," which opened on May 28 and will remain on display until June 5 in the West Exhibition Hall of the Library of Alexandria's Conference Center. Its curators are Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo, professor of the Department of Geography and History of the University of La Laguna, and Andrea Rodríguez Vallas, PhD in Egyptology from the same institution.

The exhibition displays approximately fifty photographs from the collection of Eduard Toda i Güell (1852–1941), who served as Spanish vice-consul in Cairo between 1884 and 1886. The photographs from his former collection have been selected because they offer insight into the documentation methods used by Egyptologists working for the Egyptian Antiquities Service during the 19th century, specifically in the context of their annual inspection trips to Upper Egypt. This exhibition It has already been exhibited with notable success in September 2022, at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in Cairo.

Modern photographic techniques were not common during the 1880s and were therefore not widely accessible. Nevertheless, the Egyptian Antiquities Service was gaining experience in using cameras to document antiquities and physical assets during that decade.

Eduard Toda formed a friendship with the members of the Egyptian Antiquities Service team, which allowed him to receive some of the photographs they captured as gifts, as well as acquire the necessary practical experience in photography and apply it alongside them on different occasions.

The vagaries of preservation have allowed these images to be integrated into the collection of the Víctor Balaguer Library Museum, in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona), and have reached us, preserving the image of how the photographic documentation process of Egyptian antiquities, both objects and monuments, began at the end of the 19th century.

Opening

The exhibition's opening consisted of a scholarly dialogue between the two curators, Doctors Molinero Polo and Rodríguez Valls, and Professor Maysara Abdullah Hussein. This discussion focused on the photographic archive that is the centerpiece of the exhibition, aiming to provide a better understanding of the documentation methods employed by the team of Egyptologists from the Egyptian Antiquities Service at that time.

Maysara also spoke about the life and memories of Sennedjem, an ancient Egyptian craftsman who lived during the reigns of Seti I and Ramses II, expanding on aspects of social life in Egypt in light of the archaeological relics discovered in one of the most wonderful tombs in Western Thebes (Luxor).

Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo is a professor of Ancient History and Egyptology at the University of La Laguna and is currently in charge of the archaeological mission at the Theban Tomb TT 209 in Luxor.

Andrea Rodríguez Valls, Egyptologist and researcher in paleography and the religious emblem of Bat, has organized several exhibitions in Spain and is currently a member of the Pabasa Tomb Project (TT-279 Luxor).

Maysara Abdullah Hussein is a professor of Ancient Egyptian Archaeology at the Faculty of Archaeology at Cairo University and currently works as the deputy executive director of archaeological affairs at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.