Future of Friends of Saqqara
Through this message, we would like to inform you about the future of the Friends of Saqqara Foundation (FoS). Since its establishment in 2003, our foundation has organised twenty Saqqara-days and five pub quizzes, published twenty Saqqara Newsletters, and disbursed €102,851.20 for the benefit of Dutch and Flemish Egyptological projects related to Saqqara. This wonderful result would not have been possible without the voluntary unpaid efforts of current and former board members, the Scientific Advisory Board, and the contributions of our Friends.
However, several developments in recent years have made it necessary to take a critical look at the future of FoS. Below is an outline of the three most significant developments:
1) Some of the current board members have indicated that the duties of the board are no longer or difficult to combine with work and private circumstances. It will not have escaped your notice that the Newsletter is long overdue and the website is not up to date. Unfortunately, we have not managed to find new recruits for the board. We have noticed that Saqqara is apparently not so alive among the current generation of students. This is also noticeable in the scarcity of copy from students for the annual FoS Newsletter.
2) Since its inception, FoS has been able to make use of a space in the Matthias de Vrieshof in Leiden, under the auspices of the NINO. This space was used to store the stock of books for the book market as well as merchandise. Following the NINO’s recent move to the new Hertha Mohr building, no more space has been made available for FoS. The board has looked at several options for storage, including at board members’ homes and third-party storage facilities, but has concluded that none of these options are cost-effective or future-proof. This means that FoS will no longer have storage space and will no longer be able to accept bequests in the form of books in the future, the book fair will no longer be able to be held, and merchandise cannot be stored.
3) The foundation was established in 2003 as an initiative to support the Leiden excavation project of the National Museum of Antiquities and Leiden University in Saqqara. Although FoS has supported several projects since then, the Leiden excavation project and the subsequent collaboration with the Museo Egizio from Turin, has always been one of the largest sponsored projects. With the loss of the Leiden partners’ concession, one of its core raison d’être falls away. While the board understands the emphasis on international cooperation, the ‘our dig in Saqqara’ feeling has always been a key driver of donations and volunteer efforts. The board is hopeful that the concession could return in the future but has also experienced in recent years the problems of a foundation focused in principles on a single site.
The above developments have forced the board to make a decision on the future of FoS.
After lengthy deliberation and exploration of several options, the board chose to embark on a path to merge the FoS foundation into the Mehen: the Study Centre for Ancient Egypt foundation (www.mehen.nl). Given both statutes and non-profit status, combined with the Mehen board’s unbridled commitment to disseminating knowledge on Ancient Egypt to anyone who is interested, we as a board are unanimously of the opinion that this foundation is ideally suited to take over the resources of FoS. Initial discussions on this have now taken place with the Mehen board. This is obviously not a decision taken lightly. It should be emphasised here that this takeover is a FoS initiative to ensure continuity of FoS’s work, albeit not under that name. The assets of FoS will benefit Mehen. The Mehen board has agreed to earmark an amount to support Saqqara-related projects so that the work of FoS will continue through Mehen. The book stock has now been transferred and will be offered to Mehen donors through book fairs. Saqqara Newsletters 21 (2023) and 22 (2024) will still be published and sent out. The governance structure of FoS will cease to exist. Consequently, the Scientific Advisory Board of FoS will also cease to exist.
We would like to thank everyone very much for all your donations and interest in our activities over the past 20 years and we hope for your understanding in this difficult decision.
On behalf of the entire board of the Friends of Saqqara Foundation,
Vincent Oeters
Chairman Friends of Saqqara
Panehsy’s graf bestaat uit een tempelgebouwtje op een rechthoekige binnenplaats (13,4 x 8,2 meter), drie kapellen, een hof met zuilen en een schacht naar de ondergrondse grafkamers. De kleistenen muren zijn versierd met fraaie kleurrijke reliëfs, die tot 1,50 meter hoog bewaard zijn gebleven. Die laten voorstellingen zien van Panehsy, van zijn vrouw Baia ‘de zangeres van Amon’, van priesters en offerdragers. De namen en titels worden in hiërogliefen genoemd: ‘Panehsy van Memphis’ was ‘rentmeester van de tempel van (de god) Amon’. Memphis was destijds een belangrijke stad. Panehsy woonde daar en is er mogelijk ook geboren. De naam Panehsy komt vaker voor in deze tijd, maar deze specifieke ambtenaar was tot nu toe onbekend.
Vier kleine kapellen
