AMIR MAKAR / AFP
In front of the pyramids of Giza, Egypt, February 6, 2023.
EGYPT – For some it is “the project of the century”, for others “an absurdity”. A new plan to renovate the pyramid of Menkaure on the Giza Plateau is shaking up all of Egypt.
In a video released on Friday, the head of the Egyptian Antiquities Department, Mostafa Waziri, shows workers aligning granite blocks on the base of the Pyramid of Menkaure, the lowest of Giza's three pyramids.
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When the pyramid of Menkaure was built, it was covered with granite. Over time it has lost some of its covering. The current project aims to restore this granite layer to return the pyramid to its original appearance.
This “renovation” will last “three years” and will be “a gift from Egypt to the world in the 21st century,” welcomes Mostafa Waziri, head of the Egyptian-Japanese mission responsible for the project, ensuring that “ “We can see for the first time the pyramid of Menkaure as it was built by the ancient Egyptians.”
But beneath the video, dozens of horrified commenters lost their temper.
“Not possible!”, answers the visibly indignant Egyptologist Monica Hanna on Facebook. “All that was missing was to tile the pyramid of Menkaure! When will we put an end to the absurdity in the management of the Egyptian heritage?” she writes again.
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“All international restoration principles prohibit such interventions; all archaeologists must mobilize immediately,” she says.
Online, all Internet users express their sharp barbs: “When will the project to straighten the Tower of Pisa come?” writes one, referring to the Italian monument known precisely because it is tilted.
“Why not wallpaper on the pyramids instead of tiles? », ironically suggests another Internet user.
The issue of preserving cultural heritage in Egypt – a country that relies on tourism for 10% of its GDP and is home to the Great Pyramid, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still visible today – is often the subject of lively debate Debates.
The recent destruction of entire parts of historic Cairo has greatly mobilized a civil society that is almost banned from political activity and is now focusing its fight against the regime primarily in the areas of urban planning and cultural heritage.
In recent days, the debate has focused on a 15th-century mosque in Alexandria to the north, the Abu al-Abbas al-Morsi Mosque.
The governorate just announced it is launching an investigation after a renovation contractor decided to repaint the ornate, sculptural and colorful ceilings of the largest mosque in Egypt's second-largest city in white.
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