The First World War in the lands of the Pharaohs

More than 2000 unseen images of Egypt and Palestine taken during the First World War have been gathered by researchers at Cardiff University.

In a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Professor Paul Nicholson and Dr Steve Mills of the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, have spent the last two years aiming to commemorate this often over-looked theatre of the war and record the ancient monuments of these areas.

In a series of roadshows in Wales and England, members of the public shared photographs, postcards and memories with the researchers dating from the period of the First World War.

“Unseen and unpublished”

Professor Nicholson said: “The images have been obtained through the generosity of members of the public at a series of roadshows at venues in Wales and England and so represent an otherwise unseen and unpublished resource...”

The images, which include photographs taken by servicemen and women, have been digitised and uploaded to a dedicated website, giving members of the public the chance to see what their ancestors saw, along with new views of archaeological sites, military installations and cities as they appeared during the war.

As the project comes to an end, a free public keynote lecture and conference is being held to find out more about World War 1 and specifically its impact on the Middle East. Views from an Antique Land takes place on 19^th (lecture) and 20^th (conference) of May 2017. Tickets for the events are free and lunch will be included on the Saturday. Reserve a place here.

The images are available here.