Christiane Desroches Noblecourt was a
French Egyptologist died she was , 97. She was the
author of many books on
Egyptian art and
history and was also known for her role in the preservation of the
Nubian temples from flooding caused by the
Aswan Dam.
(17 November 1913 – 23 June 2011)
Background
She was born Christiane Desroches on November 17 1913, in
Paris. In 1922 she was fascinated by
Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of
Tutankhamon, and encouraged by Father
Étienne Drioton, she joined the Egyptian Antiquities department at the
Louvre. She was the first woman to be a fellow of the
French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), and was also the first woman to lead an archaeological dig, in 1938.
During
World War II she joined the
Resistance, and hid the Louvre’s Egyptian treasures in free areas of France.
She died on June 23, 2011 at 97.
Aswan Dam project
The construction of the new Aswan High Dam led to Noblecourt’s greatest accomplishment: the preservation of ancient Nubian temples from flooding caused by the dam. The first dam, completed in 1902 with a capacity of a billion cubic meters, had been deemed insufficient and raised in 1912, and again in 1934. The dam’s capacity still could not meet the needs of Egypt’s ever-growing population, and in 1954 the government of
Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to build a new dam with a capacity of 157 billion cubic meters, 500 kilometers long, which would extend into
Sudan. It has been described as a project worthy of the
pharaohs.
The monuments of ancient Nubia would have been flooded and lost forever if the project had gone ahead as planned, among them the temples of
Abu Simbel. In the words of writer
Pierre Loti, who visited the area shortly after the first dam was completed:
“The greater part of the ancient temples of Nubia will be underwater. . .but the cotton fields will be so productive!”
UNESCO immediately asked Noblecourt, who was then curator of Egyptian antiquities at the Louvre, to create an inventory of all the threatened historical sites. It then undertook the colossal task of finding the funding necessary to save them.
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Campaign to save the temples
On March 8, 1960, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, along with
Sarwat Okasha, the Egyptian Minister of Culture, made a formal appeal for international support. Not only would more than fourteen temples have to be moved, but urgent excavations would need to take place at sites that would soon be under several dozen meters of water.
André Malraux, then the French Minister of Cultural Affairs, added his voice to the appeal:
“The power that created the colossal monuments threatened today. . . speaks to us in a voice as exalted as that of the architects of Chartres, as that of Rembrandt. . .Your appeal is historic, not because it proposes to save the temples of Nubia, but because through it the first global civilization publicly claims the world’s art as its indivisible heritage. . .There is only one action over which the indifference of stars and the eternal murmuring of rivers have no sway - it is the act by which man snatches something from death.”
Fifty countries, in the middle of the
Cold War, contributed funds to save the monuments now considered part of the heritage of all humanity.
Philae, Kalabsha, Wadi al-Sabua, Dakka, Derr and other sites were moved, with the temples of Abu Simbel receiving the most media attention. The temple of Amada was a difficult case, because of its small, beautifully painted reliefs. Chopping it into blocks, as was being done with the other temples, was not an option; the paintings would not have survived. Seeing that all seemed resigned to see the temple flooded by the silty waters of
Lake Nasser, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt announced that France would save it. She asked two
architects to propose a method for moving the temple in one piece. Their idea was to put the temple on rails and transport it hydraulically to a site a few kilometers away that was more than 60 meters higher.
More funds were needed for this ambitious project. To this end Christiane Desroches Noblecourt requested an interview with
Charles de Gaulle, who had no idea of the commitment she had made in the name of her country. Reportedly on learning of it, he demanded, “Madame, how dare you say that France will save the temple, without authorization from my government?” Noblecourt replied, “General, how dare you make an appeal on the radio without authorization from Pétain?” De Gaulle agreed to honour Noblecourt's promise.
Ultimately the rescue project, including the transportation and reconstruction of the temples on their new sites, took twenty years.
Aftermath
The preservation of the Nubian monuments was to have unexpected consequences. The first was an improvement in Franco-Egyptian relations, which had been poor since the
Suez Canal crisis of 1956. This in turn led to the organization of a Tutankhamon exhibition at the Louvre in 1967, which attracted a record number of visitors, followed by the exhibitions of
Ramses II in 1976, and
Amenophis III in 1993. In recognition of France’s contributions to the preservation of the Nubian temples, the government of
Anwar Sadat donated to the Louvre the bust of
Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaton.
Awards
In 1975 Christiane Desroches Noblecourt received the prestigious gold medal of the
French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). In January 2008, she was awarded the Grand Cross of the
Légion d'honneur, the highest decoration in France.
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Merbreier's husband, W. Carter Merbreier, an ordained Lutheran minister, created Captain Noah and His Magical Ark in 1967 in conjunction with the Philadelphia Council of Churches.[4] It initially started as a religious program, but switched to a children's television format in 1970.[4] Pat Merbreier co-hosted the show as Mrs. Noah alongside her husband from 1967 to 1994.[4] In addition to co-hosting the series as "Mrs. Noah", she also acted as the show's chief puppeteer. Funding for a the original puppeteer's salary ran out during the show's 13th week on-air, so Pat Merbreier took over the role.[4] Some of her more well known puppets included Maurice the Mouse, Mumwup the Monster and Wally the Walrus.[1][2][4]
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