TAG SPOTLIGHT #6 – ROMANTIC ERA TOURIST MARKS IN EGYPT

TAG SPOTLIGHT is a publication series accompanying the international TAG Conference. For the European 2025 edition, which took place in Vienna from 7th till 9th November, the fifth volume has been published to the occasion of Joseph Kyselak’s 200th anniversary, often cited as the ‘world’s first tagger’. Just like the previous numbers each edition spotlights one specific topic of the namewriting culture.

‘ROMANTIC ERA TOURIST MARKS IN EGYPT’ was published together with Munich based art historian and passionate archivist Hania El Houry. For years she did research antique photographs documenting the Egypt famous sights along the Nile, always searching for carvings by European travellers. El Houry did discover amazing proofs of e.g. British, German or French tourists, many from the nobility, who left their marks often as part of their personal Grand Tour through Europe and the Middle East.

The 42-paged zine includes highlights from her collection presenting rare examples of often completely covered walls and statues showcasing countless inscriptions from 18th and 19th Century tourists. Additional contents are information and explanations on the sources that make clear, namewriting (and sometimes even commercial advertising) was an everyday thing to do at these world famous monumental sights back in the day. We recommend TAG SPOTLIGHT #6 to get insight into this uncharted field of research and explore the early traces of namewriting culture.

40 pages, 14,8 cm x 21 cm, zine
Language: English
Editor: Hania El Houry & Javier Abarca
Series edited by: Javier Abarca 

Release date: November 2025

Publisher: Urbanario Books & Hitzerot