Grand Egyptian museum receives 31 pieces of Khufu’s 4,400 year-old barge | Cairo Post

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Grand Egyptian museum receives 31 pieces of Khufu's 4,400 year-old barge

Mar. 17, 2016 13:54

Egyptian archaeologists move statues of pharaohs at the new Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza pyramids in Cairo - AFP

By Rany Mostafa

CAIRO: Thirty-one wooden beams of the second solar barge of Pharaoh Khufu were transported Wednesday to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in preparation for restoration and reassembly, said the museum's Director of Restoration Department Issa Zeidan.

King Khufu's second solar boat, which dates back to 2,400 B.C., is scheduled to be on display in a separate section at the GEM upon its inauguration in 208.

"Khufu's second boat has been dismantled into 1,450 wooden pieces, out of which 337 have been examined, restored and transported to the GEM's storerooms under the supervision of the General Administration of Tourism and Antiquities Police. The boat will be reassembled once all the pieces are transported," Zidan was quoted by Youm7 Wednesday.

He added the restoration of Khufu boat is being carried out an Egyptian-Japanese team with the application of the modern technologies and according to the set schedule and the whole restoration would be completed in 2017.

The mortuary complex of Pharaoh Khufu included five shafts that once may have held boats surrounding the Pharaoh's complex, archaeologist Sherif el-Sabban told The Cairo Post.

In 1954 and while clearing the debris outside the Great Pyramid's enclosure wall, Egyptian archaeologist Kamal el-Malakh found two boats, one in each of two shafts covered by huge limestone slabs, while the other three shafts were empty, he added.

"The first boat was dismantled into 1,230 pieces, then restored and along with the second boat is on display at the Solar Boat Museum nearby the Great Pyramid. The second boat was examined several times before a Japanese archaeological team from Waseda University in 1992 offered to unearth, restore and display it to the public," said Sabban.
Solar boats in ancient Egypt were usually made of cedar wood imported from Lebanon, tour guide Magdy Abdel Mohsen told The Cairo Post.

"They were either used to transport the corpse of the Pharaoh from the east bank to the west bank of the River Nile, where the body was mummified and buried or, according to the ancient Egyptian afterlife belief, served as means to transport the pharaoh to eternity," said Mohsen.