Imhotep Today: Egptianizing Architecture (Encounters with Ancient Egypt S.)

Book Description
Examples of buildings, structures or monuments that draw inspiration from ancient Egypt, or even transplant in their entirety motifs or architectural elements, can be seen across the world. But why is this so? These fifteen essays explore the use and adaptation of Egyptian designs, motifs and architecture across the modern world drawing on case studies from Britain, France, Italy, America, Australia and South Africa. The contributors discuss why some images were more popular than others, such as sphinxes, obelisks and pyramids, and what events fuelled the rise of Egyptomania, illustrated with a range of examples from facades of zoos, bridges, cinemas, prisons, museums, cemeteries, funerary monuments and parks. Further discussion is made of the reasons for drawing on Egyptian culture, whether for aesthetic, symbolic or cultural reasons, and the contributors question whether this Egyptian message is universally understood.


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The 15 papers of this collection chronicle various instances of the West's fascination with monuments of ancient Egypt, such as its sculpted gods, obelisks, pyramids, sphinxes, pylons, and their translation into architectural form in the 19th and 20th centuries. Skyscrapers, homes, bridges, museums, advertising, theater, and film are some of the media where a mania for the Egyptian style has appeared, described in these papers, which were contributed by academics, museum curators, and enthusiasts, in the UK, the US, France, Italy, and Brazil. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


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