Chronologie de la construction du Musée - Invisu

Concours pour le musée des Antiquités égyptiennes du Caire : chronologie des sources
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arched openings, all exactly alike, are not quite logical, as they are not, in fact, all doorways, whilst
the colonnade above is of no use at all, but is set up «for glory and for beauty.» Curved roofs of lead
or copper rise above the balustrades and crown with square domes two angle loggie which would give
fine effects of shadows to the façade. This architect, differing from all the other competitors, makes
his first floor more important than the ground floor, and so far justifies himself for the extraordinary
amount of space occupied by the stairs. It is not unfair to say that the museum would be a series of
rooms attached to a staircase. The architectural treatment of this part of the design is exceedingly
clever. Columns, piers, arches, and vaulted halls open on either hand, but the floor areas would be
very ill-lit in many places, whilst wall space is everywhere conspicuous by its absence. As a gallery for
sculpture the design might be acceptable, but it seems grievously ill-fitted for a Museum of Egyptian
antiquities.”
n°48 [Guilhem] beaux dessins soignés dans les détails, avec malheureusement des manques
d’explications dans l’utilisation de certains espaces, plan extrêmement simple et direct, colonnes
ioniques en façade mais avec une largeur et une masse égyptiennes, d’un artiste habile et raffiné. “In
the set of drawings No. 48, we again find a design as beautifully drawn as it is carefully studied in its
details. Unfortunately the author has not written upon the plans the destinations of various parts of
the building, and, so far as can be surmised, sundry departments are either forgotten or ill-provided
for. The plan is exceedingly simple and direct. A large hall, 18 m wide, runs across the whole width
of the building and is closed at either end by a staircase. From the farther side of this hall run seven
parallel halls, offering, with the great hall of entrance, a very large amount of wall space and a fine
amount of floor are very suited for the classification of the objects exhibited. On the north, west,
and south sides of the rectangle which is formed by this halls there is a series of small rooms lit from
the side (the rest being all lit from above). These rooms are surmounted by a similar series on the
first floor. The amount of wall-spaces thus secured is very large, but it is doubtful whether so great a
number of small rooms would be found suitable. The façade is a fine construction. The colonnades
(perhaps useless) which flank the central mass of the entrance are Ionic in type, but a breadth and
mass are given to the work which are Egyptian, and a slight batter to some of the walls adds to the
effect. The design is the work of an artist of high ability and refined taste.”
n°49 [Marcel Dourgnon] excellent plan, meilleur que le 48, mais d’un caractère artistique
sensiblement inférieur, sans monumentalité, avec façade évoquant le Palais-Royal. “The drawings
No. 49 are deserving of study. A large area of ground is covered. A central hall rising into a square
dome, which shows above the adjoining buildings, but which would not, in fact, form the prominent
feature it does in the elevations, is closely surrounded by courts and galleries, all well lighted and well
arranged for the purposes of the museum. The library stands forward in a wing from the left angle of
the building, and, with the salle de vente correspondingly placed on the right, is accessible from within
or from outside. The offices of the administration are also well placed; in fact, this plan seems to meet
the requirements of a museum exceedingly well – better, perhaps, in some respects, than that of No.
48; but in artistic character it is markedly inferior. There is nothing of the monumental. The front
has a suggestion of the Palais Royal at Paris, whilst the central hall has in it flimsy iron columns and
girders only suited to a temporary structure.”
n°56 en style hindou, avec trois étages, des petits dômes et des minarets. “The design No. 56 is for
an astonishing structure in the Hindoo style; parts of it are not less than three stories in height, and
above these rise countless little domes and minarets, which the museum authorities would be at no
small charges to maintain.”
n°60 long plan cruciforme aménagé en diagonale, de style plus ou moins arabisant [Saracenic],
avec des détails insuffisamment étudiés. “The author of the design n°60 has not complied with the
requirements of the programme as to accommodation. A long cruciform plan is set diagonally on the
site and not with its façade towards the principal street on the east, as prescribed. The drawings are
indifferently executed, and the details of construction seem but imperfectly studied; indeed, it may be
doubted whether, as shown, some of the buildings would stand. The detail is more or less Saracenic,
and the walls and arches are banded with red and white. An entrance block, surmounted by a small
dome, leads by an ignominious way under the stairs to a long nave, very lofty, with galleried aisles on
either side. The junction of the nave with its continuation and with the transepts is surmounted by a
tall and ill-shaped, which seems to have very inadequate support. A row of little windows is pierced
through the vertical wall of the dome; the central space could not be otherwise than very imperfectly
lighted. Classification in a building thus planned would be difficult. Additions as the collection do