How Napoleon’s invasion created a hype for Ancient Egypt

Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 and his findings paved the way for the world’s fascination with Egypt and its history.

The huge interest in the ancient Egypt and its fascinating civilization began with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798. His time in Egypt was short, but the expedition of scholars and artists he sent to Egypt, did an important job in documenting the old abandoned temples, obelisks, monuments and hieroglyphs from the ancient Egypt. Their studies became the foundation of the science of Egyptology as we know it today. After the British took control of Egypt they continued the work with excavations and research. Most known from this time is of course Howard Carter’s finding of the untouched grave of the boy Pharaoh Tutankamon in 1922.

Especially the aristocracy and royalty of European countries were very interested in both financing and following the many excavations that took place and they themselves often went to Egypt. And they needed to life like royalty once they were there and a handful of beautiful hotels was built in Cairo, Luxor and in Aswan, as well of the construction of comfortable steam ships and the more private, luxurious dahabiyas, on which the visitors could sail up and down the Nile on first class. The mild climate in Egypt was also a contributing factor of the many new travelers to Egypt from Europe’s finer circles. The social life in especially Cairo was therefor really great with a lot of glamourous balls at various hotels during winter.

Several of these hotels still welcome guests today though carefully renovated to meet today’s expectations of comfort as well as preserving the glory history of the hotels – and you can still feel the touch of history when you enter these buildings or enter a dahabiya on the Nile.

Near Aswan you can visit several amazing places from ancient history. Abu Simbel which is south of Aswan is on the bucket list and a must see. The well preserved temple of Philae is also in the proximity of Aswan.

In ancient time the granite in Aswan was sourced to the big construction sites of those of both the pyramids, obelisks and temples up and down the Nile. In one of these old quarries you can see an abandoned and unfinished obelisk, which would have been the largest in Egypt had it not been for a flaw in the stone which let to its discard.

Old Cataract – a historic hotel

Sofitel Legend Old Cataract in Aswan brings you back to the old days of British colonialism in its grandest days. The hotel was built in 1899 to accommodate the many new tourists on their journey up the River Nile. They had to switch boats in Aswan and in the meanwhile they could enjoy a night or more at this beautiful hotel.

The view from the rosa granite banks where the hotel is situated is splendid. On a Nile Cruise the famous author Agatha Christie was inspired to write “Death on the Nile” and the hotel likes to tell, that some of it was written in this very same hotel. The hotel was in fact location for the first movie based on the book filmed in 1977. You can read more about the hotel here.

Winter Palace Luxor

Sofitel Legend Winter Palace in Luxor is also one of the historic hotels from Belle Époque with a location on the banks of the Nile in Luxor. Here you are in walking distance to both Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple.

The hotel was actually built as a palace to host the regent in Egypt in 1886, Pasha Khedive Tawfiq and his entourage. After his reign the palace was also a favorite palace for King Farouk of Egypt and he would invite other royals from especially the Europe to join him in the winter when the climate was mild and sunny in Luxor.

Parties and Tutankamon.

During winter the palace hosted very popular balls among them also the great costume balls. In those days it was not unlikely to see a water plane parked on the Nile in front of the Winter Palace after having transported wealthy and important people to the party.

The Winter Palace became a hotel and on the hotel’s bulletin board it was announced when Howard Carter had found the tomb of Tutankamon. It was also on this hotel you could find Howard Carter playing bridge with Agatha Christie and her husband – oh to have been able to hear what those three were chatting about.