Giant Statue of Ramses II Heads to the Pyramids for Some Air
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CAIRO, Egypt — A giant statue of Pharaoh Ramses II will be moved next month to a more serene home near the Great Pyramids from a congested square in downtown Cairo in a bid to save it from corrosive pollution, Egypt’s antiquities chief said yesterday.
Exhaust fumes from trains, cars, and buses, as well as subway vibrations, are damaging the more than 3,200-year-old granite statue at Ramses Square, its home since the early 1950s, when it was taken from a temple at the site of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis.
The 125-ton statue — a popular feature on postcards and guide books — will become part of a new museum about a mile from the pyramids.
“We have to move that statue,”antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said.
Contractors plan to transport a replica next week, as a test. If all goes well, the real thing will make its way through the sprawling city August 25.
Officials have discussed moving the statue for more than a decade as experts debated where it should go. The location at the Grand Museum of Egypt was recently agreed upon, and engineers began researching how to move the statue.
