Information about next year's courses available November 2010
Archive (courses July 2010)
Photos by James Kellie
News from Bloomsbury...
14th January 2010
Our first BSS in Egypt course is heralded a huge success
2009 was the year we launched BSS in Egypt, and the idea proved so popular that we repeated our first course five weeks later. So, Professor Barry Kemp directed Exploring Amarna: Akhenaten’s Abandoned City twice, with a total of 44 BSS students attending his courses in Minya, the closest large town to Tell el-Amarna in Middle Egypt.
Right: Barry Kemp explains Amarna Boundary Stela U
(Photo: P Lynn)
Small Aten Temple at sunrise (Photo: B Khairy)
Ave Anderson attended the first of the two courses (24 – 31 October) and is happy to share her thoughts on the week:
"The trip to Middle Egypt was a very enjoyable, fun and informative one. We were met by the BSS leaders in Cairo and escorted through the rest of our journey to all the sights with a surprise visit to Meidum added to the itinerary. All the tour guides and staff were very helpful attentive and friendly. The site visits were made even more amazing by the descriptions of the guides who brought the places to life for us. One of these guides was Barry Kemp himself who showed us around the fabulous site of Amarna and all the others. Everyone was always happy to answer questions and discuss ideas. The monuments (plenty to scramble around in ...) speak for themselves but the trip was made all the more enjoyable by Lucia, Barry, Galal and the rest of the team, and of course the group got on well together.
I would highly recommend the trip to others and cannot wait until the announcement of the next adventure!"
Anna and Francesco Scaravilli attended the second of the two courses (30 November – 7 December) and have kindly told us what they thought:
"The organisation was excellent and the timetable perfect. BSS's selection of places to visit was comprehensive, and the site visits were wonderful (the inclusion of the Burnt Monastery offering a pleasant break from the archaeology). BSS chose their staff in Egypt with care – our driver Hani, guide Galal Alsinusy, and assistant Eslam Sweloum all made life extremely easy (and pleasant) for every one of us.
Lucia Gahlin was impeccable in providing useful information about the sites, and in always being in the right place to help out where needed. Her constant good mood was particularly appreciated early in the morning and when illness struck one of the group. We would not have any hesitation in recommending her for further ventures like this one, well done Lucia!
We could not have been luckier with our course director and guide Barry Kemp. He is an academic who has first hand experience of the site, having worked there since 1977. We liked his highly scientific and rational approach to a topic
that is all too easily transformed into a sentimental tale about the beautiful queen and his adoring husband, the monotheistic tale, the sad end etc. At the same time, he was extremely clear in delivering loads of sometimes-difficult information to people with an extremely different degree of knowledge of the topic. I think all of us understood and learnt a lot (we did, I can assure you). He should be warmly congratulated and Roy Hudson's words of appreciation and gratitude at the end of the week were just a small token of what we felt."
Sònia Palau, who attended the second course, perhaps summed it up for all those of us lucky enough to attend Barry's BSS in Egypt course, when she writes:
"Barry left in our hearts a deep impression thanks to his lasting enthusiasm for archaeology, his commendable work in Amarna, his venerable wisdom and especially thanks to his charming simplicity."
