Many of you have already visited the Grand Egyptian Museum and had the chance to see the majestic statue of Ramesses II in the central hall.
But few people know just how unusual a journey this statue made
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was one of Egypt’s main attractions, standing at the excavation site of the ancient capital of Memphis, next to the temple dedicated to the god Ptah
At that time the statue lay in a horizontal position, about 11 meters long and weighing roughly 83 tons
By decision of the Khedive of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, it was intended to be sold to England, but the British were unable to move the statue even in pieces (so much for the myths about ancient sledges and other ways of moving megaliths)
In the end, the statue never went to the British Museum, and stayed in Egypt
In the 1950s, under the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the idea of “shakhsiya masriya” - Egyptian identity - was being promoted, asserting that Egypt’s roots lay in its pharaonic heritage, the land of the pharaohs
A rare photo of Nasser by the statue in Memphis (below)
As part of this project, the statue was moved to the center of Cairo, to the square in front of the railway station, which is still called Ramses Square to this day
It became a symbol of the new Egypt and of national self-awareness, a reminder that, despite its Arab roots, Egypt rests on its pharaonic heritage
The statue stood in the square until the early 2000s.
By the way, in 1973 an international commission recognized Cairo as THE CLEANEST CITY IN THE WORLD (hard to believe how much the city could change in 50 years…)
By 2002 it had become clear that the statue was beginning to deteriorate: the aggressive urban environment, exhaust fumes, and chemical dust were eroding the granite
A complex operation was organized - it was decided not to take the statue apart, so as not to risk losing any part of the monument
Over the course of 10 hours, standing upright, Ramesses was transported across the whole of Cairo - from the city center to Giza, to the building of the future Grand Egyptian Museum
The statue was restored and cleaned of centimeters-thick layers of grime - and now Ramesses has, in a sense, come home, taking his place in the atrium of the new museum
