Non-for-Profit research Foundation that researches the history of Egyptology.

Somewhere in the mid-19th century, the word “Egyptology” was coined: The name connotes the scientific study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of the 4th century AD. Some 165 years later, Egyptology has become part of history, and now there is a movement afoot to investigate and study its evolution.

The t3.wy Project has been a frontrunner in this field: In June 2009, with the aid of a small staff, Marcel and Monica Maessen set up a website to draw attention to the subject of Egyptian dig houses. These houses, scattered all over Egypt, are where the first Egyptologists spent their professional as well as their private lives while excavating in Egypt. These houses were usually built close to their work, and therefore their histories contain much information about the excavations and also about the people who lived there. 

This website provoked an outpouring of interest in the subject from academics and the general public alike. As a result, the initiators of the t3.wy Project decided to take this private project to the next level by starting a non-profit foundation. The t3.wy Foundation was established in July 2014. The goals are to raise much-needed funds in to expand and continue in-depth research on dig houses and related topics. Since the foundation will be based in the Netherlands, it also has a Dutch name, “Stichting Tawy Historisch Onderzoek Egyptologie”.

For the time being, the three pillars of our Foundation also represent the mission of our team:

1. The research, description and publication of dig houses in Egypt, DHP (Dig House Project),
2. Discovering, researching, describing and, if necessary, restoring historical photographs and (glass) negatives and slides of Egyptian antiquities, HPRPP (Historical Photo Research & Preservation Project),
3. Investigating and publishing correspondence from Egyptologists from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, ECP (Egyptologist Correspondence Project).