Felix  Arnold is scientific director of the Madrid branch of the German Archaeological Institute, and an architect and archaeologist specialized in the history of Egyptian architecture of both the pharaonic and Islamic periods. The son of two Egyptologists, he grew up in Egypt, and since receiving his PhD from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, he has conducted fieldwork in Spain, Syria, Ukraine, and Egypt, where he has directed excavations at Dahshur, Elephantine, and many other sites.