Examination and Conservation of Helal El-Beah Mosque, Dakahlia, Egypt

Helal El-Beah mosque in Egypt was built from many different materials as sandstone, bricks and marble. These building materials were in a bad condition due to many degradation factors, mainly ground water and salt weathering, so many deterioration phenomena were appeared as horizontal and vertical cracks, salts, loss of the Islamic decorations in the fa?ade and mihrab (Prayer niche), detachment of the plaster, biological colonization and featured dark of the stone surface. Prior to the conservation intervention, the building materials were characterized to identify their components. Scientific conservation treatment was carried out for the long-term conservation of the mosque. Conservation operations at the mosque included: repairing and roof insulation, wet and dry cleaning, joining of cracked parts and surface consolidating, replacement of the Portland cement plaster with lime plaster, re-cladding the lower part of the interior brick walls with sandstone tiles, replacement and completion of the stone blocks.

Mechanisms of the Deterioration of the Wall Reliefs at Shenhur Temple, Upper Egypt and Concepts for Conservation

The Roman Period temple of Isis at Shenhur was built and enhanced amid the rule of Augustus (30 BCE-14 CE) through that of Trajan (98-117 CE). It was built of two sorts of local limestone and decorated with reliefs. Examination of conservation state uncovered that it was collapsed and only partly preserved and it disposed of some still buried rooms. The temple is exposed to different deteriorations processes created by internal and external stresses because of the mineral composition of the building materials, atmosphere variables, salts crystallization and groundwater. In this study, the deterioration problems of the wall reliefs were examined for the aim of its conservation. For this purpose, the chemical, physical and structural characterization were performed by means of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and observation of thin section by transmitted light optical microscopy (LOM), polarized microscope, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) attached with EDX and thermogravimetric (DTA & TGA). Additionally, microbiological study and chemical analyses of ground water were carried out. Results demonstrated that the deterioration of Shenhur was because of the forceful activity of the environment agents and soluble salts such as chlorides and sulphates. These results and information allowed that the identification of the types of salts and deterioration features might be used in the future for conservation purposes.

Diagnosis and Damage Assessment of Weathered Quartzite Colossi of 18^thDynasty from Karnak Temple, Egypt

The Egyptian Pharaonic temples are traditionally made of different stones (limestone granite, diorite, or sandstone and quartzite) shaped into large heavy blocks or as Colossal statues. One of these is the colossi of Thutmose II and Amenhotep III at Karnak temple which made out of red quartzite from Gebel el-Ahmar, located at north-east of Cairo. Quartzite is one of the famous stones that were widely used during the heights of ancient Egyptian civilization. The Colossi of Thutmose II and Amenhotep III were subjected to many exogenous and endogenous deterioration factors which causes of a severe damage of the stone materials. In this study we documented the weathering of these quartzite colossal statues using field recording and laboratory analysis to evaluate their conservation state. Weathering and deterioration aspects noted through light optical microscope (LOM), polarizing microscope (PM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The mineralogical characterization was performed using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Energy dispersive analysis (EDX). The mineralogy and weathering study of quartzite on the Colossi of Thutmose II and Amenhotep III illustrate a succession of geochemical processes which have taken place at the colossi and it revealed that, they need for quick intervention.