The cracks are showing in Egypt's latest pyramid scheme
The Giza Plateau is set to be turned into a giant concert venue again. Entertainers are thrilled, but archaeologists are aghast.
Mahmoud Abdurhman in Cairo
Egypt plans to host a Grammy House pop-up show at the foot of the Great Pyramids of Giza in October next year – a multi-day event with live music and industry panels. A court case filed last month could scuttle that plan.
The Centre for Economic and Social Rights, an Egyptian civic group, opened the case to demand an end to what it called "archaeological tampering" at the site. The minister of tourism and antiquities, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and the governor of Giza are all named in the suit. The centre accused the authorities of "failing to perform their duty to safeguard the monument", knowing that concerts involve heavy equipment, temporary structures, and nighttime noise within the protected zone.
The suit came days after a sold-out concert by electronic music group Anyma drew more than 15,000 revellers to the Giza Plateau. Event organiser Rabie Mokbel says the show generated $20-million in accommodation revenue for Egyptian businesses. Hotel rooms went for up to $500 per night and ticket prices started at about $216 (10,000 Egyptian pounds).
But the concertgoers' excitement was in stark contrast with growing alarm, as Egyptians watched loud speakers vibrate and lasers light up the venue.
"The area around the pyramids contains thousands of tombs carved into fragile limestone," says Magdy Shaker, chief archaeologist at the antiquities ministry. "The stone is porous and easily affected by vibrations from loud music and large crowds." He adds that the groundwater beneath the Sphinx makes it especially vulnerable to tremors.
Tour guide Hoda Radi says large events require support infrastructure – restaurants, toilets, and drainage systems could leak used and untreated water into the aquifer below the plateau.
Invisible cracks
"Some concerts exceed 90 decibels. Continuous vibrations cause micro-stresses that can eventually form cracks invisible to the eye," says former antiquities restorer Farouk Sharaf, who once worked on the Sphinx. Intense lighting and heat from spotlights can add to that stress by causing uneven thermal expansion in the limestone, producing micro-fractures.
Sharaf warns that the limestone statue is particularly vulnerable. "The Sphinx's neck is a weak point. It supports a head that weighs several tonnes and can be destabilised even by tiny cracks.
Egypt has some rules for hosting events at heritage sites. Hosts must make no physical or visual alterations to monuments and guarantee site safety in writing, according to 2016 regulations by the Supreme Council of Antiquities. But these are not always enforced, Radi says. During the Anyma concert, "a laser device was mounted on one of the pyramids – a serious breach of protocol.
In January 2023, Egypt's parliament debated two motions objecting to leasing parts of the pyramids area for private events and weddings, stressing that, "The site is a world heritage monument, not an entertainment venue."
But not everyone would choose historical preservation over today's livelihoods. "These concerts help revitalise tourism," says Hossam Hezaz of the Egyptian Federation of Tourist Chambers.
Egypt's tourism revenue nosedived in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic but has been steadily recovering for a couple of years and exceeded pre-pandemic income last year.
This article is published in collaboration with Egab
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