HELP US SAVE THE VALLEY
Why We Need Your Help
This project is large in scope. It will take a number of years to complete. It won’t be cheap. But the stakes are high. Many ancient monuments in the Middle East have been intentionally destroyed, looted, or have been severely damaged because of fighting in the areas where they are located. Illicit excavation, the black market trade in illegal antiquities, passive neglect and more recently, religious fundamentalism, have all taken their toll, at an increasing and alarming rate.
The Middle East, particularly Egypt, is the cradle of Western civilization. Its monuments provide a window into our collective past. They allow us to share a human commonality and identity. But if we do not work to keep that window open, it will be closed and lost forever. Two generations ago, in the 1960’s, the world worked together to save much of this heritage when it was threatened with being drowned forever under the waters behind the Aswan High Dam. Our generation is faced with a similar challenge and task, to which we need to respond.
We cannot afford to lose any more of the world’s ancient cultural heritage when so much has already been lost forever. Egyptian monuments belong not just to Egypt, but to the world and its generations to come. We have an obligation to them to save and preserve what still remains.
Egypt is a poor country. Traditionally, it has paid for conservation and preservation work through revenue generated from fees charged to tourists who visit Egypt to see the amazing remains of this great ancient civilization. But tourism to Egypt has suffered a series of body blows in the last decade.
The Great Recession, beginning in 2007, greatly reduced the number of tourists visiting Egypt, resulting in sharply reduced income from tourism. The world economy has been struggling ever since. Funds for conservation and preservation of ancient monuments have been hard hit, as governments and other NGO’s struggle with reduced economic resources.
Tourism fell off further as a result of the Egyptian Revolution of 2010. Lax security then resulted in the looting of museums, sites, and monuments, giving Egypt, even more, to repair, preserve and restore with reduced resources. Order has been restored, but there is much to remedy and repair.
All this has been compounded by events in Iraq and Syria, with the rise of ISIS, which, alone, has been the single greatest destroyer of ancient monuments and culture in modern times. While Egypt is a safe country in which to travel, this caused tourism to fall even further and diverted resources that might have gone to Egypt to other countries which have suffered destruction and loss of their monuments.
That is why we are turning to you, in the hope that you care enough about the preservation of this great ancient culture and its monuments to contribute to their preservation for future generations. We aim to preserve these sites as they really exist, not just in the pages of books, or in photographs, as reminders of what once was and is now lost, but as tangible, real parts of the world’s cultural heritage.
Our Promise To You
We know there are other organizations to which you might contribute to help with this work. But the Consortium is different in several ways.
First, it consists of only people and organizations wholly devoted to the preservation of the remains of ancient Egypt, through conservation, or excavation. All involved have long records of work in Egypt, over many years. This means there is no “learning curve”. Everyone is already seasoned and knows their stuff. We have attached CV’s of some members of the Consortium, so you can see their experience and qualifications.
Second, unlike some organizations, we aim to get the most bang for the buck and to put as much of the funds you contribute directly into the work on the monuments. The Consortium will maintain a presence only in Luxor. There will be no expensive office to maintain in Cairo and no overhead except that directly associated with the work in the Valley. It will be using only local Egyptian facilities for housing whenever possible, and only seasonally, not a dig house maintained year round, with year-round costs. The work season will be limited. Once we finish a season, we will get out of town and not have further related expenses until we return.
Third, because we want to be able to come back to you to ask for further support, we will post written reports after the end of each season detailing what work was done. If you trust us with your money, then we have an obligation to you to tell you how we used your funds. Furthermore, as time goes on, if you decide to continue to support the work, you may want to designate where your money is to be spent. You cannot do that if we don’t report to you.
Fourth, we want your help to try to partner with other NGO’s and governmental organizations. Private Foundations and governmental agencies always value what they refer to as “cost sharing”. Simply put, they like to see that an organization that asks for assistance is willing to contribute to the costs of a given project. With your help, we can demonstrate we have supporters willing to partner with such other organizations, which will have a multiplier effect on funding for this work.
We sincerely hope that you can and will help us to preserve and protect these great cultural monuments that enrich the world and each of us. Please join us in these efforts to save and preserve the world’s great and rich cultural heritage. Together, we can achieve great things and save these monuments for future generations.
Thank you for your support.
“Those tombs contain a treasure trove of Egyptian art, history, religious beliefs, and practices.”
“There are material remains yet to be discovered in tombs not yet found, but which surely exist.”
“Together, we can achieve great things and save these monuments for future generations.”