The Aberdeen woman responsible for unveiling long-hidden mysteries of Ancient Egypt will soon be celebrated as part of a new exhibition.
Annie Piri Quibell will be among more than 100 remarkable individuals whose global influence will be showcased in Provost Skene’s House, which is currently being renovated and refurbished.
Work starts today on the £3.8 million city centre masterplan project, scheduled to be completed by autumn 2020.
Quibell was brought up at the city’s 13 Bon Accord Square – part of what records note was a“modestly distinguished” family.
She was one of the first women to enroll on a new Egyptian Archaeology course at University College London in 1892 and was later chosen as one of only two female students to join an excavation team at Saqqara in 1895.
It was in Egypt that she met James Edward Quibell of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, who was to become her partner in work and love.
They first came together in an entirely unromantic fashion, while they both battled food poisoning during a dig.
In 1900 the couple married in Aberdeen and thereafter spent their lives working together, at one point going as far as to adopt an Egyptian tomb as their home.
In her memoir “A Wayfarer in Egypt”, published in 1925, Annie Quibell wrote: “Of all the different dwelling places, give me, for choice, if not too long a time, a good tomb.
“The shafts at the bottom of which the real burial is, sometimes still gape in the floor and one has to be careful not to fall in, but this is almost the only drawback.”
Responsible for recording numerous paintings and inscriptions, in later life Quibell went on to write several books on Egypt, aimed at a popular audience, including short guides to Saqqara and the Giza Pyramids.
She died from leukaemia in 1927, two years after A Wayfarer in Egypt was published.
Council co-leader, Councillor Jenny Laing, said: “Provost Skene’s House will become a treasure trove for stories like Annie Quibell’s, some stretching back centuries, others celebrating our continuing influence on the wider world.
“Our cultural, heritage and tourism offering continues to grow, with the launch of P&J Live nearly upon us, Aberdeen Art Gallery re-opening in the autumn and Union Terrace Gardens about to undergo its own transformation.”
Quibell will feature in the International Trailblazers section at Provost Skene’s House – which itself dates back from 1545.
The line-up will range from Professor John Mallard, who helped develop the MRI body scanner, to music superstar Emeli Sandé and rower Katherine Grainger, Britain’s most decorated female Olympian.
