Giovanni Battista Belzoni, from Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries Within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia by Giovanni Battista Belzoni,London, 1820.

The 'Young Memnon', aka Rameses II, at the British Museum.

Giovanni Battista Belzoni (November 15, 1778 – December 3, 1823) was an Italian explorer of Egyptian antiquities. Image File history File links Belzoni1. ... Image File history File links Belzoni1. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom. ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (705x1024, 163 KB) Date: ca. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (705x1024, 163 KB) Date: ca. ... Ramesses II, Abu Simbel Ramesses II (also known as Ramesses the Great and alternatively transcribed as Ramses and Rameses) was an Egyptian pharaoh. ... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, with a tessellated glass roof by Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room. ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 1778 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Exploration is the act of searching or traveling for the purpose of discovery, e. ...

Belzoni was born at Padua, the son of a barber. His family was from Rome, and he spent his adolescence there. He intended taking monastic orders, but in 1798 the occupation of the city by the French troops drove him from Rome and changed his proposed career. He went back to Padua, where he studied hydraulics, moved in 1800 to the Netherlands, and in 1803 went to England, where he married an Englishwoman, Sarah Bane or Banne. He stood 6 ft 7 in (2 metres tall), broad in proportion, and his wife was of equally generous build. They were for some time compelled to find subsistence by exhibitions of feats of strength and agility at fairs and on the streets of London. Through the kindness of Henry Salt, the traveller and antiquarian, who was ever afterwards his patron, he was engaged at Astley's amphitheatre, and his circumstances soon began to improve. Tronco Maestro Riviera: a pedestrian walk along a section of the inland waterway or naviglio interno of Padua. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Location within Province of Rome in the Region of Latium Coordinates: Region Latium Porvince Province of Rome Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,285 km²  (496. ... 1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1800 (MDCCC) was an exceptional common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1803 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom. ... Henry Salt (June 14, 1780 – October 30, 1827) was an English artist, traveler, diplomat, and Egyptologist. ...

In 1812 he left England, and after travelling in Spain and Portugal reached Egypt in 1815, where Salt was then British consul-general. Belzoni wanted to show Mehemet Ali a hydraulic machine of his own invention for raising the waters of the Nile. Though the experiment with this engine was successful, the design was abandoned by the pasha, and Belzoni resolved to continue his travels. On the recommendation of the orientalist, J. L. Burckhardt, he was sent by Salt to the Ramesseum at Thebes, whence he removed with great skill the colossal bust of Ramesses II, commonly called "the Young Memnon" – shipped by Belzoni to England, this piece is still on prominent display at the British Museum. He also pushed his investigations into the great temple of Edfu, visited Elephantine and Philae, cleared the great temple at Abu Simbel of sand (1817), made excavations at Karnak, and opened up the sepulchre of Seti I (still sometimes known as "Belzoni's Tomb"). He was the first to penetrate into the second pyramid of Giza, and the first European in modern times to visit the oasis of Bahariya, which he supposed to be that of Siwa. He also identified the ruins of Berenice on the Red Sea. 1812 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Battle of New Orleans 1815 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... See Mehemet Ali (Turkey) for the Turkish foreign minister and regent. ... The Nile ; Ancient Egyptian iteru), a river in Africa, is accepted by most authorities as being the |longest river on Earth]]. The Nile has two tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the former being the longer of the two. ... Johann Ludwig (aka John Lewis) Burckhardt (November 24, 1784 - October 15, 1817), Swiss traveller and orientalist, was born in Lausanne. ... The Ramesseum is the memorial temple (or mortuary temple) of Pharaoh Ramses II (Ramses the Great). ... For the ancient capital of Boeotia, see Thebes, Greece. ... Ramesses (meryamun) Born of Re, (Beloved of Amun) Praenomen Usermaatre-setepenre The Justice of Re is Powerful, Chosen of Re Golden Horus Userrenput-aanehktu Nebty name Mekkemetwafkhasut Horus name Kanakht Merymaa Consort(s) Isetnofret, Nefertari Maathorneferure Issues Bintanath, Khaemweset, Merneptah, Amun-her-khepsef Meritamen Father Seti I Mother Queen Tuya... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, with a tessellated glass roof by Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room. ... The front of the Edfu Temple The first pylon at Edfu Temple Statue of Horus, Edfu Temple Edfu (also spelt Idfu or in modern French as Edfou and known in antiquity as Behdet) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the River Nile between Esna and Aswan... Elephantine Island, showing the nilometer (lower left) and the Aswan Museum. ... Philae (or Pilak or Paaleq [Egyptian: remote place or the end or the angle island]; [Arabic: Anas el Wagud]) is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt. ... Model showing the relative positions of the Abu Simbel temples before and after relocation Categories: Ancient Egypt stubs | Wonders of the World ... 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Map of Karnak, showing major temple complexes Interior of Temple Al-Karnak (Arabic الكرنك) is a small village in Egypt, located on the banks of the River Nile some 2. ... nomen or birth name Menmaatre, or Seti I was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt), the son of Ramesses I and Queen Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II. According to some historians, he reigned between either 1294 BC or 1290 BC to 1279 BC or 1305... Tomb KV17, located in Egypts Valley of the Kings and also known by the names Belzonis tomb, the Tomb of Apis, and the Tomb of Psammis, son of Nechois, is the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty. ... The Great Sphinx of Giza with Khafres pyramid in the background. ... El Waha el Bahariya (Arabic: الواحة البحرية), (meaning the sea-oasis) is an oasis in Egypt. ... The Siwa Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert. ... Berenice or Berenice Troglodytica (now known as Medinet-el Haras) is an ancient seaport of Egypt on the west coast of the Red Sea. ... Location of the Red Sea Image:Red Seaimage. ...

In 1819 he returned to England, and published in the following year an account of his travels and discoveries entitled Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia, &c. He also exhibited during 1820–1821 facsimiles of the tomb of Seti I. The exhibition was held at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London. In 1822 Belzoni showed his model in Paris. 1819 common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The coronation banquet for George IV 1821 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Piccadilly is a major London street, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. ... Part of the Paris region skyline with from left to right: Montparnasse Tower, Eiffel Tower, and La Défense. ...

In 1823 he set out for West Africa, intending to travel to Timbuktu. Having been refused permission to pass through Morocco, he chose the Guinea Coast route. He reached Benin, but was seized with dysentery at a village called Gwato, and died there. According to the celebrated traveller Richard Francis Burton he was murdered and robbed. In 1829 his widow published his drawings of the royal tombs at Thebes. 1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... Timbuktu, Timbuctu or Timbuctoo (Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu, French: Tombouctou) is a city populated by the Songhay, Tuareg, Fulani, and Moorish people in the West African country of Mali. ... Dysentery is an illness (formerly known as the bloody flux or simply flux) involving severe diarrhea that is often associated with blood in the feces. ... Edo State in Nigeria, where Ughoton is. ... Richard Burton, portrait by Frederic Leighton, National Portrait Gallery, London. ... View over the East Valley The Valley of the Kings, or Wadi el-Muluk (وادي الملوك) in Arabic, is a valley in Egypt where tombs were built for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom, the Eighteenth through Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. ...

Reference

• Catholic Encyclopedia article

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...