CAIRO, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that the 91-ton statue of Ramesses II was moved some 1,300 feet, from a storage area to the atrium of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, which is scheduled to open fully in 2022. The statue is said to have been moved four times: the first trip, from the Aswan quarry where it was carved to the Memphis necropolis, where it was part of the façade of Ptah’s temple, took place some 3,000 years ago. In 1955, the statue was moved to Cairo, and placed in what is now known as Ramesses Square. It was moved to the headquarters of the new Grand Egyptian Museum on the Giza Plateau in 2006 to protect it from pollution. Since then, it has been studied and reinforced in preparation for the most recent journey over a specially treated road. Egypt’s Engineering Authority of the Armed Forces and the Arab Contractors Company created an iron cage in which the colossus was hung for the trip, so that it would be able to move freely. For more, go to “Afterlife on the Nile.”
