The Foundation has been funding a seven-year project to clean and restore the astronomical ceiling of the Temple of Khnum at Esna. The work is being undertaken by a team under the joint supervision of Professor Christian Leitz of the University of Tübingen in Germany and Hisham el-Leithy of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. The cleaning and restoration is approximately half-way through. The 2000 years of soot from campfires had preserved the colours underneath very well, and the colours being revealed are clear and bright. Much is also being revealed about ancient Egyptian astronomy. The temple was recently visited by the Egyptian Prime Minister, as a result of the widespread interest in the Esna temple, and the considerable numbers of tourists who have begun to visit the site and stare at its revealed beauty.

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The English translation of a manuscript in the Foundation's archive written in 1862 by Mahmoud-Bey, Astronomer to the Viceroy of Egypt at that time was published on September 15, 2023. On facing pages are scans of the original manuscript. Its title is The Age and Purpose of the Pyramids as Indicated by Sirius. Mahmoud-Bey (Mahmoud Ahmed Hamdi al-Falaki) carried out meticulous studies of the Great Pyramid, which are described in detail in his book. This book, published by Eglantyne Books Limited of London, was subsidised by the Foundation. The translation from the original French is by Dr. Tessa Dickinson.

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The Foundation is pleased to make available for free download pdfs of all six volumes of Auguste Mariette’s monumental work, Denderah. Mariette was often called Mariette Bey, Bey being a title of honour in the Egypt of that time under the Khedive (to whom the volumes are dedicated). Mariette was born February 11, 1821, in France, and died January 19, 1881, in Cairo. He was one of the ‘founding fathers’ of modern Egyptology. His volumes represent a complete publication of the wall paintings and carvings and texts of the Temple of Hathor in five volumes, plus a final text volume comprising extended captions and comments for all the illustrations in the five plate (planche) volumes. These six volumes were all published between 1870 and 1875 in both Paris and Cairo. The illustrations as preserved here represent some of imagery which later suffered damage or degradation, so that in some cases, the only full and correct representations are to be found in the Mariette volumes.