Egyptian Places

Egyptian Places: An Illustrated Travelogue

Henry David Ayon
ORO Editions, September 2020

Paperback | 11 x 10 inches | 170 pages | 200+ illustrations | English | ISBN: 978-1951541217 | $40.00

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION:

Egyptian Places: An Illustrated Travelogue is a rich and multi-faceted account of an architect’s visits to 12 of Ancient Egypt’s most spectacular sites, a journey that transports the reader from the urban metropolis of Cairo and the Great Pyramid of Giza to the remote desert setting of the rock-cut temples at Abu Simbel, with visits to other monumental temples and towering pyramids which line the Nile River.

The book recreates that journey, describing important architectural features of these sacred monuments, their mythic foundations and religious significance. Over 200 color hand drawings and graphic studies capture and interpret the character of each site from the architect’s unique perspective.

Henry David Ayon practices architecture in Richmond, Virginia and is a former adjunct faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University where he taught design and drawing, two life-long devotions. A graduate of the University of Texas School of Architecture, he also holds a Master’s Degree in the Science of Historic Preservation from Columbia University.

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dDAB COMMENTARY:

Before making my first — and who know, potentially my last — trip to Egypt in early 2019, the closest I physically came to the country's ancient architecture was the Temple of Dendur, which has been on display inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1978. The temple sits in a large space designed by Roche Dinkeloo Architects with a north-facing sloping glass wall that references the battered walls of the ancient ruin. Removed from Egypt due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam, the temple ended up at The Met in large part because of the climate-controlled space (other cities and places were vying for the temple, a history recounted in David Gissen's Manhattan Atmospheres). This means the temple is always experienced in a modern space defined by a prominent glass wall and a gridded ceiling. 

So at The Met it's impossible to see the temple transplanted from Ancient Egypt apart from modern intrusions, but can the same sentiment be said about the in situ pyramids and temples in Egypt? My 2019 trip kept me in one of the new towns on the periphery of Cairo for most of my stay, but on one day I did hop on a field trip to Giza to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. That all-too-short visit allowed me and my fellow travelers to get close to the massive blocks of the pyramids and as close to the Sphinx as possible, all the while learning about the conservation of the ruins from local scholars. Minus the throngs of tourists, I recall how the vistas of the ancient structures were unimpeded by the minarets, towers, informal housing and other modern structures that litter much of Cairo.

Perceiving the ruins of Ancient Egypt comes to mind when looking at architect Henry David Ayon's Egyptian Places because his carefully composed and colored drawings give few hints of the modern world. It just might be that the sightlines in and around Karnak, Luxor, and the other places Ayon visited have a buffer that is similar to Giza, but the style of his sparsely populated drawings — about half are sepia and the other half have washes of beige and blue — gives the impression of empty places untouched by the contemporary world. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it allows readers to immerse themselves in the places once tread by pharaohs and now exuding their spirits. Some plans would have been helpful to gain orientation among the large complexes, but the appealing images will be enough for many people, particularly those who have already tread similar ground to Ayon.

Accompanying the hundreds of drawings are thousands of words, many of them describing Ayon's firsthand experiences and many of them focused on the histories and architectural compositions of the places. The author is clearly curious about Ancient Egypt, and it should be noted his interest started with what started my commentary: Ayon worked on the Temple of Dendur while a young architect in the office of Roche Dinkeloo. The act of building a model of an ancient temple provoked a strong interest in Egyptian architecture and served as a benchmark on the later journey he would take with Paula, his "lifelong traveling companion." That journey, documented in Egyptian Places, should provoke other architects to follow in their footsteps.

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