November 7th
Arrival in Cairo
Meeting at the airport of Cairo; transfer to the JAZ Pyramids Resort Hotel.
Individual or shared airport transfers for the participants will be booked according to preliminary requests.
15.00-21.00 Conference sessions
November 8th
A tour of Cairo: The Cairo Museum displays a number of mysterious artifacts of possibly contestable origin, purpose and date, including the following: an apparently unfinished sarcophagus, a table-like object made of limestone with an alabaster disc inlay, a damaged sarcophagus with text stamped over the damaged part, a flywheel with a lightweight rim, a sarcophagus of Merneptah that looks as if a core drill had been used on it, several Sphinxes, alabaster sarcophagi, a two-figure statue representing the pharaoh Amenemhat III in the form of the Nile god Hapi, the pyramidion of Amenemhat III that used to crown the Black Pyramid, the Triads of Menkaure, so-called “sharpening disks”, “air ducts” and “ashtrays”, an object in the shape of a hollowed torus cut in half, and many more.
A visit to the famous Khan el-Khalili Bazaar. This market has a rich and fascinating history that dates back to the 14th century. Founded in 1382 by Emir Jaharkas al-Khalili, a powerful Mamluke Prince, the market was originally built as a caravanserai, that is, a place for merchants to rest and store their goods. Over the centuries, it has evolved into a bustling hub of trade and commerce, attracting merchants from across the Middle East and beyond.
15.00-21.00 Conference sessions
November 9th
A tour of the pyramids of Giza: The textbook version of their origin is that the Egyptians constructed them during the reign of the Fourth Dynasty; some explorers question this, however. To this day, the site of the pyramids of Giza holds many secrets that hint at the impossibility of these gigantic structures having been created by the workers and engineers of the pharaohs.
While visiting the archaeological complex on the Giza plateau as part of our tour, guests are provided exclusive access to certain restricted premises, such as the subterranean chambers of the Great Pyramid and the Osiris Shaft.
15.00-21.00 Conference sessions
November 10th
A tour of the ancient pyramid complexes of Saqqara and Dahshur: These are considered to be the original sites where Ancient Egyptians worked out the technology of pyramid construction. Among the attractions there are the Pyramid of Djoser, recognized as the oldest of all the pyramids; the basalt paving near the pyramid of Userkaf; and a unique place showing a cutaway view of a pyramid, prompting the visitor to imagine how they might have been created. Guests will also have a chance to enter the Pyramid of Djoser to feel its grandeur. Moreover, the Amun-Tefnakht tomb, usually not open to the public, may be explored, which will involve a winch descent in compliance with safety regulations. You will see the fantastic Serapeum with its 24 huge box-like sarcophagi. This mysterious catacomb was discovered more than a hundred years ago, but for a long time very little information about it was available; only in the 21st century was the complex opened to tourists. The sarcophagi, each weighing over a hundred tons, are cut from solid blocks of various granite and diorite rocks. Some of them are perfectly polished to a mirror shine. This may be one of the most impressive places in Egypt! Then you will visit the majestic structures of Dahshur – the Red Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, and its satellite pyramid. Few people know that in addition to the three Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt boasts other large pyramids, every bit as impressive as those of Giza and even exceeding them in terms of certain structural properties.
15.00-21.00 Conference sessions
November 11th
A tour of the pyramids and mastabas of Meidum: You will visit the interior of the Meidum pyramid and see the granite sarcophagus located next to it, the quality of the images of gods and animals on which contrasts sharply with the quality of the inscriptions. There will also be a chance to descend into a veritable “bunker of the gods” – the underground chamber of the mastaba No.17, constructed of finely treated massive blocks.
15.00-21.00 Conference sessions
November 12th
Day of departure. Airport transfer.
The cultural program may be extended to end on November 17th. Guests are invited to take a ride on the Southern Express train along the Nile from Cairo to Aswan.