On Monday, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Sherif Fathy, has honored renowned Armenian Egyptologist Dr. Hourig Sourouzian in recognition of her decades-long contribution to the restoration and revival of the mortuary temple of King Amenhotep III in Luxor.
During a ceremony held at the site, the minister presented Dr. Sourouzian with a certificate of appreciation for her role as director of the restoration project of the two colossal statues of King Amenhotep III, part of a wider conservation effort for the Colossi of Memnon and the mortuary temple that began in 1998.
The project has been carried out in cooperation between Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, with support from the World Monuments Watch and the World Monuments Fund. It aims to preserve the remaining elements of the temple and restore them as closely as possible to their original form.
Dr. Sourouzian said the mission uncovered numerous fragments of the statues over the years, many of which were found in poor condition after being submerged in silt and saline groundwater. Additional granite blocks forming the statues’ bases were later recovered from the open-air museum at the Karnak Temples.
She added that restoration work began in 2006 and included cleaning, conservation, three-dimensional documentation, and the reassembly of the fragmented blocks. The process concluded in 2025 with the reinstallation and raising of the two statues at their original location within the temple complex. The statues stand between 13.6 and 14.5 meters high.
As part of the event, Minister Fathy unveiled the two restored statues, saying the project represents a major achievement in preserving one of the most important landmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization and contributes to enhancing Luxor’s status as a leading global cultural and tourism destination.
Armenian-Egyptian architect and conservator Dr. Nairy Hambikian, the project’s site engineer, outlined the technical challenges faced during the restoration, particularly fluctuations in groundwater levels, which required precise engineering and conservation solutions to ensure the site’s stability.
She also noted that the project helped build local capacity through the training of more than 30 Egyptian conservators and the involvement of around 10 architects specializing in archaeological work, describing the initiative as a successful model of international cooperation.
The mortuary temple of King Amenhotep III, known as the “Temple of Millions of Years,” was built in the 14th century BC and was once the largest and most richly equipped mortuary temple in ancient Egypt. Most of the temple collapsed following a powerful earthquake around 1200 BC, leaving only the two colossal statues standing at its original entrance.
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