Cairo: Al Amir Kamal Farag .

Weeks have passed since the first anniversary of the death of the general supervisor of excavations and restorations at the Ministry of Antiquities Talal El Kretty, the owner of the unique story in archeology and restoration, as maintained by grandparents more than seven thousand years .

With his Egyptian features, his tanned face, simple longing and devotion infinite to the homeland, and his belief that does not rest in the sanctity of maintaining the unique monuments, Mr. Talal spent years traveling from an archaeological location to another, looking and excavating, reading the ancient writing, and transmits huge monuments, inspired by the ancestors in the transfer of large pieces, due to his vast experience in this domain ; he was thought that he was able to move the pyramids .

Mohammed Abdo Mohammed Kretty and his fame “Rayess Talal Abdu Kretty” belongs to the largest family who worked in the field of monuments all over the Republic, and had a larger role in the discovery and restoration of a large number of monuments in the different governorates of Egypt, not only the pharaonic, but Islamic and Coptic Romanian and Greek monuments also .

His passion Began since childhood, he was not like other kids of his age  who were all tempted by just playing, his hobby at the age of eighteen was accompanying his father Rayess Abdo Kertty in the excavations, and working with scientists in the field of archeology such as Dr. Selim Hassan during his work at Saqqara, Dr. Ahmed Fakhry while working at Dahshur, and archaeologist Walter P. Emre at Saqqara, as well as work with Dr. Zaki Saad, Abdul Salam Hussein at Saqqara, and go through the years of working, his interests of the Egyptian Antiquities began to record many of the important discoveries that shed light the ancient Egyptian civilization in different eras.

Important discoveries

Mr. Talal contributed with the Czech mission led by Czech scientist Miroslav Verner in many of the discoveries, such as the pyramid of King Nefr. F Ra at Abusir, as well as the private pyramid papyrus, which gave us a wealth of information about what was happening in hierarchical groups in that period archive.

And he also contributed to the famous King Nefr. F Ra statue that is now in the Egyptian Museum, in which the falcon hugs Horus head, surrounds the King from the back, and also the pyramid of Queen Khantkaus II at the area of Abusir, and her own papyrus archive. as well as the discovery of a pyramid Hbss Ka Ra minus at Abusir, and also the pyramid Lepsius 24 and 25, as well as the discovery of the tomb of the physician Qar at Abusir, and the tomb of Inti and Sndjem IP, the tomb of Luga Hur, Aaov - Amos at Abusir .

Rayess Talal also contributed in the discovery of toast-IP-Nkao and Vtaatka Babossar cemetery as well as many incomplete graves at Abusir Pyramids area, and also the restoration and upgrading Huge stones upside way to Pyramid Sahour Ra in Abusir, and restoration of the pyramid entrance to help archaeologists in entering the pyramid .

During his work at the Saqqara area Talal helped in the disclosure of many of the tombs and pyramids such as Queen EPOTE group wife of King Teti, as well as Queen Khuyt, the second wife of King Teti with Dr. Zahi Hawass, also discovered Nkao Asse cemetery at Saqqara with Dr. Mahmoud Abdel - Razek as well as the tomb at Saqqara Hor Luga with Dr. Zahi Hawass, and contributed to the restoration and lifting huge blocks of stone in the entrance to the pyramid of the mystery King Ka F .

Rayess Talal worked as a member of the group pyramid of King Djoser with the French archaeologist Jean Philippe Lauer, as well as the work of the monastery of St. Jeremiah in Saqqara, and also discovered a new Serapeum with the former Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim, as well as work with the Japanese mission led by Dr. Shimura and Dr. Kwai, also worked with the French mission led by Adron Labross, South Saqqara .

Rayess Talal Explored the cemetery Ka M Mso at Saqqara and the tomb of the physician E. Marie northern Saqqara, in addition to many of the tombs of the two families first and second with the late archaeological Mohammed Hagras , former Saqqara area manager.

He also served as the temple of the private King Unas Valley, and Mission Louvre led by Dr. Christian Ziegler, as well as with Australian mission with Dr. Naguib Kanawati, working with the Italian mission cemetery Pac-rang-F with Dr. Ida Brchiana, as well as the discovery of  IP-Nkao cemetery in north Saqqara with Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim Bakr , former head of the Antiquities Service. He also worked with Dr. Ahmed Kadry the former Head of the Monuments and Dr. Ahmed Moussa , the former director of Saqqara, also worked for the king of the road bullish with Zahi Hawass, as well as the lifting of many large area of Dahshur and Giza coffins with Dr. Zahi Hawass .

He also worked with the German Mission road rookie of the king with Dr. Monroe and the disclosure of many of the graves, as the discovery of as much as its ancient Egyptian stored cheese, and that there is now a hall "tombs of Saqqara" Museum Imhoteb Saqqara, which we did not find anything like it to this day .

Pharaonic culture

He was known for his wide read the hieroglyphic writing and translating, he was racing with both Egyptians and foreigners to translate the names and titles and functions of the owner of the tomb , archaeologists, also known for his knowledge of the planning of the cemetery, and their components, and what they contain, before starting the excavation work, and these experiences gained thanks to his work with the most famous archaeologists at the international level, which prompted many foreign and Egyptian missions to name his choice to work with them without the other administrators excavations .

Transferring Monuments

Talal was famous for his great experience in transferring  huge stones, coffins, and obelisks, which did not resort to transfer to modern lifting tools used by construction companies now, but he used the same simple tools that ancient Egyptians used in the transfer of such large pieces .

He was chosen by the researcher famous archeologist Zahi Hawass , to accompany him on his tours of archaeological on the level of the Republic, where he participated with him in the transfer of the Ark of Al Bahariya Oasis governor, which is named Khonsu.

 Hawass sees the difficulty of moving this coffin, due to the difficult position, but the Talal’s great experience enables this transfer huge and difficult coffin in just one hour, where he lifted the coffin two meters, and then the slide on the tool rolls six meters in a short time, which won the admiration of the audience from the Egyptians, headed by Dr. Hawass, as well as American television, which was filming the transferring process .

Talal also contributed in raising the massive sarcophagus in the tomb Aaov – in Abusir, where he managed to raise the huge cover. Although it was difficult, due to the great weight and also the narrow distance between the coffin and walls that surrounded it .

He also contributed greatly in the transfer of Maya tomb with the English mission led by Jeffrey Martin, where the cemetery was located in depth of about 20 m below the ground , but Talal managed to transfer it with the approval of the Antiquities Service, to save it from destruction, so he dismantled and numbered the stones, and re - installed once other sizes the same as they were in was in the temples of Nubia .

One of the most difficult works managed by Talal was also the lifting of sarcophagus of the tomb of Aaov Amos area Abusir in Giza Governorate, and the coffin cover was made of limestone that weighs about 60 tons, the process was a Great adventure , the coffin was buried in a depth of 28 meters, and the only way to get off this was wooden stairs blended with ropes, and Talal lowered its equipment with great difficulty, but with his significant experience, he managed to transfer the huge coffin .

After the transfer of the coffin, they found the Ark of basaltic coffin weighs 10 tons, placed tightly which makes it so difficult to open. there was no plenty of time to open it , since it has been agreed on the date for the opening of Aaov cemetery with the presence of the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, in which Talal take rest for half an hour, and insisted to open the huge coffin, and has already managed to open it in a record time, only an hour and a half .

One of the most important acts of Rayess Talal was the moving of the ark Quesna, Menoufia, where Dr. Zahi Hawass asked him to , during the celebration of the centenary of the Egyptian Museum in liberalization to bring the ark, which had tried a lot of administrators excavations transferred, but ended all these attempts to fail, which made Dr Hawass instructed the difficult job to Talal, so the coffin was on a plateau height of 17 meters downtown buildings and crops, but Talal managed, using wooden skis, to move the coffin, and put it on the arena, and was successfully transferred to Cairo in record time .

Among his works, he also establish and install a huge statue due to the Greek era in El - Arish Museum, which one of the statue feet was lost, and everyone realized the difficulty of residence from the ground, and install it on the base prepared for it. This statue was the most important artifact in the museum before the opening, was assigned by Talal in Ramadan .

Talal arrived Arish at 12 pm and was able to raise the statue by the third hour and a half the afternoon before breakfast, and that was in the presence of Dr. Zahi Hawass , Italian television, which made Dr. Zahi Hawass writes an article titled "Rayess Talal can lift a pyramid from its place ".


Global honor

Talal earned many certificates of appreciation from Berlin , Hanover University in Germany, the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, the University of Charles Czechs, and also received a certificate of appreciation from the president of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel. he also received honorary degrees, the Order of the first layer of Charles University, The Czech Prime Minister held a private dinner for Talal at his home the Czech capital ,Prague, where he was honored by the Crown Prince of Netherlands, The University of Leipzig , Germany , Ph.D. thesis about the achievements of the Cretan family in the excavation and general repairs .

A number of foreign televisions conducted interviews with Talal, such as American television, French, English German, Czech, Italian, Dutch and Swiss, as well as Egyptian TV in several programs .

His Death

 Rayess Talal died on Friday ,March 20, 2015 at the age of 62 years, and Dr. Zahi Hawass wrote an obituary for him, and an article titled "Rayess Talal Kretty " and also called him all sections relics universities in Europe and America .  

Talal has two sons working in the field of archeology, namely Dr. Hatem Cretan, and Dr. Hazem Cretan, has been taking a lot from the experiences of many of their father, the most important of the sanctity of maintaining the monuments, also maintained by grandparents since seven thousand years .