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Egypt Completes Work on Restoration of Amun-Ra Shrine in Temple of Seti I

Images adorning the walls of the shrine of Amun-Ra
Images adorning the walls of the shrine of Amun-Ra
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Egypt Completes Work on Restoration of Amun-Ra Shrine in Temple of Seti I

Images adorning the walls of the shrine of Amun-Ra
Images adorning the walls of the shrine of Amun-Ra

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities has completed its restoration of the ancient shrine of the ancient Egyptian deity Amun-Ra in the Temple of Seti I in the city of Abydos in southern Egypt’s Sohag Governorate as part of a comprehensive project to restore and develop cultural tourist attractions that include seven other shrines.

Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Mostafa Waziri said in a press statement on Sunday that the restoration work on the Temple of Seti I and other temples and archaeological sites across the country are being conducted “within the framework of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities’ initiative to develop our archaeological sites so they draw more local and international tourists, and enhance cultural tourism in Egypt.”

Saadi Zaki, Director General of the Restoration of Upper Egypt Antiquities, indicated that the restoration work of the ancient cabin took about three months and included cleaning the cabin mechanically and chemically, removing the layers of soot, which covered the cabin inscriptions, and removing dust using various brushes, in addition to completing the missing parts of the walls and ceiling, and strengthening of colors, before the start of the final stage, which is insulation.

The walls of the Temple of King Seti I are decorated with inscriptions explaining how the ancient Egyptians performed religious rituals; it includes seven booths and two column halls and is reinforced by thirty-six granite columns.

Dr. Hussein Abdel Basir, Director of the Antiquities Museum of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, said: “The Temple of Seti I, which was built in the 19th Dynasty, is one of the most beautiful archaeological temples in Egypt. It is full of colorful religious imagery. The colors in ancient Egypt can be studied through the inscriptions of this temple.”

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he addedthat “Seti I was among the greatest kings in Egyptian history, but he was overshadowed by the fame of his son King Ramses II. If there were no Ramses II, Seti I would have been the most famous king of ancient Egypt.”

For his part, Mohamed Abdel Badi, head of the Central Administration of Upper Egypt Antiquities, explained that “the shrine of the god (Amun-Ra) is one of the seven chapels in the Temple of Seti I in Abydos, and it was dedicated to the worshipers of Amun-Ra.”

“At the end of the temple, we find an imaginary door from the western side, and its walls are adorned with images representing the journey of the sacred boat to the other world and religious rituals and offerings to the deity Amun-Ra.”

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Astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary Launched on 1st Space Station Mission

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
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Astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary Launched on 1st Space Station Mission

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Axiom-4 crew of four astronauts lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A on a mission to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius

NASA retiree turned private astronaut Peggy Whitson was launched on the fifth flight to orbit of her career early on Wednesday, joined by crewmates from India, Poland and Hungary heading for their countries' first visit to the International Space Station.

The astronaut team lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at about 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT), beginning the latest mission organized by Texas-based startup Axiom Space in partnership with Elon Musk's rocket venture SpaceX.

The four-member crew was carried aloft on a towering SpaceX launch vehicle consisting of a Crew Dragon capsule perched atop a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket.
Live video showed the towering spacecraft streaking into the night sky over Florida's Atlantic coast trailed by a brilliant yellowish plume of fiery exhaust.

Cameras inside the crew compartment beamed footage of the four astronauts strapped into their pressurized cabin, seated calmly side by side in helmeted white-and-black flight suits as their spacecraft soared toward space.

"We've had an incredible ride uphill," Whitson radioed back to the SpaceX mission control near Los Angeles as Falcon's upper stage delivered the crew capsule to its preliminary orbit about nine minutes after launch.

Dubbed "Grace" by the Axiom crew, the newly built Crew Dragon launched on Wednesday was making its debut flight as the fifth vehicle of its kind in the SpaceX capsule fleet.

It also marked the first Crew Dragon flight since Musk briefly threatened to decommission the spacecraft after US President Donald Trump threatened to cancel Musk's government contracts in a high-profile political feud earlier this month.

TWO-WEEKS IN ORBIT

Axiom 4's autonomously operated Crew Dragon was expected to reach the ISS after a flight of about 28 hours, then dock with the outpost as the two vehicles soar together in orbit some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

If all goes according to plan, the Axiom 4 crew will be welcomed aboard the orbiting space laboratory Thursday morning by its seven current resident occupants - three astronauts from the US, one from Japan and three cosmonauts from Russia, Reuters reported.

Whitson, 65, and her three Axiom 4 crewmates - Shubhanshu Shukla, 39, of India, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, 41, of Poland, and Tibor Kapu, 33, of Hungary - are slated to spend 14 days aboard the space station conducting microgravity research.

The mission stands as the fourth such flight since 2022 arranged by Axiom as the Houston-headquartered company builds on its business of putting astronauts sponsored by private companies and foreign governments into Earth orbit.

For India, Poland and Hungary, the launch marked a return to human spaceflight after more than 40 years and the first mission to send their astronauts to the International Space Station.

The Axiom 4 participation of Shukla, an Indian air force pilot, is seen by India's own space program as a kind of precursor to the debut crewed mission of its Gaganyaan orbital spacecraft, planned for 2027.

The Axiom 4 crew is led by Whitson, who retired from NASA in 2018 after a pioneering career that included becoming the US space agency's first female chief astronaut, and the first woman to command an ISS expedition.

Now a consultant and director of human spaceflight for Axiom, she has logged 675 days in space, a US record, during three NASA missions and a fourth flight to space as commander of the Axiom 2 mission in 2023.

Wednesday's blast-off marked SpaceX's 18th human spaceflight since Musk's privately funded rocket company ushered in a new era for NASA five years ago, providing American astronauts their first rides to space from US soil since the end of the space shuttle era in 2011.

Axiom, a nine-year-old venture co-founded by NASA's former ISS program manager, is one of a handful of companies developing a commercial space station of its own intended to eventually replace the ISS, which NASA expects to retire around 2030.

NASA, besides furnishing the launch site at Cape Canaveral, assumes responsibility for astronauts venturing to the space station once they rendezvous with the orbiting outpost.