X-Nico

Johann Michael Vansleb

Vansleb travelled extensively in Egypt during the next 12 months, making a journey as far down as Sohag, and produced one of the earliest accounts of Upper Egypt: documenting the land, the people (especially the Coptic community), and pharaonic monuments such as the Giza pyramids, the Sphinx and the pyramids of Hawara, as well as Coptic monuments, including the White Monastery.

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Vansleb is a keen observer, repeatedly trying to get to the bottom of things, yet at other times accepting obscure and spurious explanations without much resistance, for example on the mating rituals of the Nile crocodile.

see also