European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 5, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A amps file the head of Ramses ii from a statue at Abu Simbell Egypt. By the associated press restoration has begun on the ruin of the Rames Seum which has inspired poets painters and tourists for 2,000 years. Man and nature have ravaged the Temple on the West Bank of the Nile near Luxor where Ramses m s body was prepared for burial a As they have Many other ancient relics in what has been called the world s most Monument Rich area. But Quot the Rames Seum s special atmosphere survives Quot French architect Jean Claude Golvin said. In restoring it he vows he will not let modern technology destroy the Romance of Antiquity that permeates it. Quot when we re finished the Rames Seum still will be the most romantic Monument on the West Bank. But Well make it a More interesting place to visit Quot he said. Golvin is co director of a French egyptian team of architects and egyptology its that took up the Rames Seum Challenge in october. Their goal is to Survey the ruins decide which parts of the vast Complex Are Strong and weak and Why then perform emergency repairs while searching out ways to ensure the Rames Seum s survival. The Temple s Fame grew from a tumbled and broken colossus of the Man himself mighty Ramses whose 67-year reign ended in 1224 . He left his Mark on Many monuments in Egypt but the Rames Seum was pure Ramses one of history s great megalomaniac. The famed Granite colossus stood 57 feet High and weighed 1,000 tons one of the largest Stone pieces Ever carved. English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley never visited the Rames Seum but immortalized the pharaoh with his poem ozymandias a statement on the impermanence of Power. A 19th-Century engraving inspired his words Quot round the decay of that colossal wreck boundless and Bare the Lone and level Sands stretch far  that s the atmosphere the architect Golvin and his colleagues vow to maintain. Quot the ruins Are Lovely and Many Are in Good condition Quot he said. Quot the setting on the Nile s West Bank is Lovely. Then you have the Aura of Ramses  the project will take years to Complete. One feature will be a mock up Rames Seum to show tourists in miniature what Ramses the great saw As he emerged from his adjacent Palace to View the Temple. The Rames Seum the pharaoh s mortuary Temple was where priests said final rites Over rameses Mummy before interment in the nearby Valley of the Kings. Long after his death they ritually commemorated him in the Temple. Golvin works for France s National Center for scientific research financing the project with the documentation Center of the egyptian antiquities organization and a private French group friends of the Rames Seum. Nobody knows when or How the Rames Seum colossus fell shattering its Torso the size of a Boxcar in a courtyard. It stood As late As the first Century recorded in journals of the traveler Diodoro Ramses Temple resurrected from land of the dead French architect Jean Claude Golvin at Bottom of ladder oversees restoration of the Rames Seum s monumental Gateway. Sic Ulous. Ancient earthquakes felled other monuments. Many blocks from the Rames Seum were used to build other things and fallen statuettes make easy prey Golvin said. Bits and pieces of other statues lie about those of the colossus. Piecing together what s fallen with what s standing is a demanding Puzzle. The Complex s major ruins include two courtyards a Hyp style Hall or colonnade with 29 of 48 original columns and mud Brick storehouses some amazingly Well preserved. The Rames Seum in Antiquity was surrounded by a Wall and guarded by several Hundred Stone sphinxes. Nobody knows How they looked Colvin said. Among the most surprising revelations so far has been the single Sphinx head found. It was that of anubis the jackal headed god of the dead the first Ever found on a Sphinx. Quot maybe it s unique. Maybe All of them were like that Quot said Golvin. Quot after All this was a Temple about  a major goal of Golvin is to learn How Best to strengthen weak Sandstone and Limestone blocks. The Rames Seum was inundated by the Nile River s annual floods until 1971, when the new High dam upstream at Aswan ended that phenomenon. Specialists already have performed emergency y surgery on the first Pylon a 221 foot Long Gateway into the Rames Seum. And they be done it the ancient Way using mud bricks to mend monuments. Golvin said this was so modern touches such As Concrete won t distract from the Beauty. And learning to do things the ancient Way is a learning experience the team eventually will share with visitors. For now he said tourists Quot love to wat it h us  March 5, 1992 stripes Magazine 7