General aim of the course is to encourage the students to take an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of management of cultural heritage, by highlighting the importance of combining different expertise to fully understand  ancient architecture.

The course will focus on ancient Egypt, and will address specific questions and issues relating to this ancient civilisation. However, the topics proposed during the course will be also used as the starting point of further discussions focussing on more general issues, such as our difficulties to disentagle our modern perception and expectations from the ancient sources, and the apparent contrast between progress and preservation of cultural heritage.

More specific target of this course is to offer an introduction to the ancient Egyptian civilisation and to its architectural heritage, with a special focus on the issues relating to the study of an ancient culture, its monuments and its material culture.

The students are expected to gain a general knowledge of the ancient Egyptian culture and in particular of its architectural remains, and to become aware of the difficulties relating to carrying out an in-depth analysis of an ancient culture. A recurrent element of the course will be learning to acknowledge our limits: knowing where to stop (an interpretation, a reconstruction, a restoration) is the key to deal with the archaeological remains in a respectful and historically correct way.

This course will focus on how the modern disciplines of archaeology, architecture and engineering must interact to preserve the cultural heritage. The study of the ancient remains and their transmission to future generations depend on a combination of small- and large-scale operations, ranging from the documentation and preservation of single objects and architectural elements, to the interpretation and reconstruction of the ancient landscape and environment.

The course will focus on the ancient Egyptian architecture, and will be divided into three parts, preceeded by an introduction and followed by a final discussion:

1. Introduction to the course and definitions
2. The modern perception of ancient Egyptian arts and architecture
3. The relationship between architecture and landscape in ancient Egypt
4. Conclusions and final discussion

Part 1 represents the introduction of the course: we will define the boundaries, the terminology and the chronology of the events that we shall deal with.

Part 2 will be dedicated to the evolution of the modern perception of ancient Egypt. After a brief description of how ancient Egypt was 'discovered', we shall focus on the difficulty to disentangle the modern expectations from the ancient sources. We shall then addess the issues relating to the retrieval and preservation of both archaeological items and monuments, with a particular focus, respectively, on the role of museums and on the issue of architectural restoration.

In Part 3, we shall move to a more strictly architectural realm, and will analyse the relationship between architecture and landscape in ancient Egypt, the importance of landscape archaeology and the necessity to set the ancient monuments into a broader physical context in order to fully understand them. We shall analyse several cases of ancient Egyptian monuments and their relation with their landscape and environment, including cases in which this link has been severed.

Part 4 will correspond to the conclusions of the course, to a summary and to the perspectives in terms of research and professional activities.

Student are not required to have any specific knowledge of ancient Egypt.

The final exam will consist of an oral test, consisting of the in-depth discussion of one topic discussed during the course, to be chosen by the student in agreement with the professor.

The lectures will consist of a part of formal lecture and a substantial and articulated part of interactive discussion: for this reason, attendance to classes is highly recommended. Slides and any additional bibliographical material will be available to all students. Non-attending students will be requested to undergo the same exam as attending students.

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