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Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Seen in Cairo : Transferring an obelisk "Updated"

During its dismantling in Zamalek 

This was a photo taken last week for the attempt to transfer King Ramses II obelisk from Zamalek island to New Alamein city.

On Wednesday, the ministry of antiquities announced that the obelisk arrived in New Alamein city.

It reportedly took 20 days just to lift it from its place in the public garden named after it “Obelisk garden” and put it horizontally on a big track.

Now there is a problem regarding its weight "90 tonnes" and whether it can be carried over 15 May bridge till it reaches the desert highway 😬🙈🙈. 

This is the only time that less known the Ancient Egyptian obelisk makes headline in both social media and mainstream media.

According to the ministry of antiquities, it was decided to transfer that obelisk from its place in Zamalek because it did not attract anybody and it was hidden.

The obelisk of Zamalek
The obelisk in its old place in Zamalek island at that public part from the Nile in one cloudy afternoon
It is true but actually, the ministry of tourism, the ministry of antiquities and Cairo governorate did not make any effort of any kind to make the obelisk Park a true tourist attraction despite it is two blocks away from the famous Cairo Tower !!!!

The obelisk of King Ramses II was originally transported from its original location in Tanis, Sharkia governorate to upscale Zamalek in 1956. The red granite obelisk was decorated by the names and titles of King Ramses II who was one of the most famous kings in the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt and the original founder of the King/President cult in Egypt from my POV "I saw a statue of his father where he erased his name and put his name over it" 

This is the latest ancient Egyptian monument that was being transferred to the new cities and communities as new museums currently built by Sisi's administration despite the Egyptian archeologists' rejection.

Newly-discovered beautiful ancient Egyptian tomb that belonged to the once-senior official "Tutu" in Suhag is being currently dismantled and transferred from its original location Suhag to be displayed at the new museum to be inaugurated at the new administrative capital.

According to the ministry of antiquities officials who spoke to the media, the decision was taken because the tomb was located in the Middle of nowhere in Suhag's desert and it will be hard for the tourists to see in it its location plus there is no enough protection to protect it.

There is no logical explanation of why it would not be transferred to Suhag national museum "it exists" so it would be a tourist attraction to help in supporting the economically-struggling governorate.

The Egyptian archaeologists are already angry that the government decided to dismantle parts of  North Sinai's Tall Al-Hayr Ptolemaic bath so they can be exhibited in South Sinai's Museum !! The site discovered in 1905 is extremely important for historically and strategic reasons too but what you know !!

The local community in both Suhag and North Sinai has little to say as in Suhag they are busy with the problem of poverty and in North Sinai transferring parts of a Ptolemaic bath is trivial comparing to the on-going war on terrorism there.

I just wish the Egyptian government and the ministry of antiquities look across the Mediterranean and see how the Greeks deal with their monuments for once.  

1 comment:

  1. WOW! Maybe next time, they'll learn to figure these things out with the help of an engineer prior to picking it up.

    ReplyDelete

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