A 360o panorama from the hills of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Egypt, illustrating landmarks in the surrounding area such as the Ramesseum, the Colossi of Memnon, the Temple of Seti I and the Shrine of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna

The drawing provides a panoramic view of the area in Egypt around the ancient city of Thebes and appears to have been executed on the top of the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna hills. It is of great importance as a record of the area and its landmarks; from left to right the sheets are filled with detailed illustrations of buildings, many of which have now been destroyed or partially ruined. In the second sheet from the left (2) is depicted The Temple of Seti I, with the city of Karnak on the horizon next to the Nile. At the left of the third sheet (3) is the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple of Ramesses II, with the Colossi of Memnon beyond to the right, and an important, now destroyed, Coptic building at the foot of the hills in the centre foreground. On the horizon, on the bank of the Nile, is the city of Luxor. Covering the join between the third and fourth sheets (3 and 4), tucked behind the hills, is Medinet Habu, incorporating the mortuary temple of Ramesses III. Furthest to the right (6) is the Deir el-Bahari complex (at the foot of the cliffs) and on the top of the hills is depicted the Shrine of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna. The Valley of the Kings lies behind the Theban mountain range to the west (6), and the Valley of the Queens is tucked in behind the Qurn (the pyramidal hill) (5).

The drawing also shows now-lost houses in which two distinguished Egyptologists stayed; in the centre foreground, below the Ramesseum, is a mud-brick house with an enclosure wall (3), which was resided in by the pioneer Egyptologist Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1797-1875). To the left is a house with a crenellated tower (2), built by Henry Salt (1780-1827), British Consol-General in Cairo at this time, who was a keen collector of Egyptian artefacts and sponsored the excavations of Thebes and Abu Simbel, and lived in by his excavator Giovanni ('Yanni') d'Athanasi (1798-1854).

The watermark at the top of sheet six indicates that the drawing was executed some time after 1828. The nineteenth-century was one of the most important times for archaeological excavation and investigation in the area around Thebes and the Valley of the Kings.

The renowned Egyptologist, Robert Hay (1799-1863) first visited Egypt in 1818, whilst serving in the Royal Navy. He returned in 1824 and stayed there for four years until returning briefly to Scotland in 1828, when he might have purchased his new Whatman paper before going back to Egypt where he remained until 1834. While working in Thebes, Hay resided in various different locations around the site such as a vaulted granary in the Ramesseum or in rooms in a temple at Medinet Habu. Hay worked with a team of artists and architects who helped him record the site, including the architect Joseph Bonomi (1796-1878), the artist Frederick Catherwood (1799-1854) and one of England's leading scholars in Arabic, Edward William Lane (1801-1876). Hay oversaw the execution of detailed drawings of monuments and tomb decorations with brief descriptions and often including architectural plans. Hay's own talents were employed executing panoramic views of the area such as the Appleby drawing.

At the time of his death Hay had still not published his findings and the majority of his work, including two comparable 360o panoramas, dated 1826, and made with the use of a camera lucida (like the present drawing), are now in the British Library. These are of a similar size to this drawing, but were executed in pencil, unlike the Appleby drawing which has been elaborated with brown wash. During his time in Egypt, Hay had become a friend and colleague of Gardner Wilkinson, who in 1830, much to Hay's dismay, published The Topography of Thebes and General Survey of Egypt, which included detailed maps of the area and drawings of every known tomb. However, the accuracy of the drawings executed by Hay and his team at Thebes and elsewhere in Egypt has lead to their still being used by archaeologists today in order to reconstruct ancient buildings that have subsequently fallen into disrepair or been destroyed.

We are very grateful to James Ede, Martin Davies, Dr Patricia Usick of the British Museum and Caroline Simpson of the Qurna History Project for their help in cataloguing the present watercolour.