Giovanni Battista Belzoni

Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823), Italian explorer and archaeologist, born in Padua (Padova). After studying hydraulic engineering in Rome, he went to England in 1803. There and elsewhere, exploiting his powerful physique, he worked as a circus performer until 1815. He then went to Egypt, where he was employed to collect Egyptian antiquities for the British Museum. Within the next two years he transferred from Thebes the colossal bust of Ramses II, called The Young Memnon (British Museum, London), explored the temple at Idfū, cleared the entrance to the huge temple at Abū Simbel, and excavated at Al Karnak. In 1817 he traveled to the Valley of the Kings, where he discovered the tomb of the Egyptian king Seti I, containing Seti's magnificent alabaster sarcophagus (Soane Museum, London). The next year Belzoni became the first person in modern time to enter the pyramid of Khafre at Giza. He was one of the first Europeans to visit the oasis of Siwa, and he also identified the ruins of Berenice on the Red Sea. In 1819 he returned to England. The following year he published Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries Within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations, in Egypt and Nubia.