Egyptian Revival architecture
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Egyptian Revival is (primarily) an architectural style that references the visual motifs and imagery of Ancient Egypt. It has never been enormously popular, unlike Greek Revival or Victorian was, but it has left its mark. There were several waves.
The first wave of Egyptomania was inspired by Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, and was mainly limited to furniture and associated decorative objects. It developed a special popularity later in the century as being particularly appropriate in mortuary contexts, as with cemetery gates.
In Russia, this wave — associated primarily with the discoveries of Champollion — produced such monuments of the 1820s as the Egyptian Bridge, Egyptian Quay, and Egyptian Gate.
A second wave of popularity developed in the 1840s and 1850s. From this period, only three actual buildings are known to survive in the United States:
- the 1851 Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee by architect William Strickland (who also did the Tennessee statehouse).
- the old Dubuque County, Iowa jail, designed by architect John Francis Rague, and completed in 1859. It is now a [historical museum]. Rague is better known as architect of the old Iowa statehouse in Iowa City, Iowa
- the [Egyptian Building of the Medical College of Virginia.]
Egyptian Revial mausoleum of Maj. A.B. Watson, Oakhill Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Michigan
The discovery of the treasure of King Tut's tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 led to a third revival. Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, USA, now home to the American Cinematheque, is an Egyptian Revival theatre from the era. Simultaneously, Aleksey Shchusev designed Lenin's Mausoleum with many elements borrowed from the Pyramid of Djoser. The Egyptian revival of the 1920s is sometimes considered to be part of the Art Deco decorative arts movement. It was present in furniture and other household objects, as well as in architecture.
The Louvre Pyramid in Paris and Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California are modern-day examples of Egyptian Revival structures. Additionally, Rosicrucian Park contains many examples of Egyptian Revival architecture.
See also
Revival styles in 19th-century architecture Neo-Classicism: Directoire and Empire • Regency • Egyptian Revival • Greek Revival and Neo-Grec Neo-Romanesque and Byzantine Revival: Richardsonian Romanesque • Russo-Byzantine • Muscovite Revival Gothic Revival: Scottish Baronial • Tudorbethan • Muscovite Gothic • Moorish Revival • Indo-Saracenic Neo-Renaissance: Italianate • Second Empire • Chateauesque • Jacobethan Neo-Baroque and 18th century: Beaux-Arts • Wrenaissance • Queen Anne • Georgian Revival • Colonial Revival
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