Egyptian Pyramid Renovation Sparks Debate
Agencies- Sudan Events
A project to restore the smallest pyramid among the pyramids of Giza sparked controversy among Egyptians on social media platforms, after the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced a plan to re-encase the smaller pyramid in granite
Mustafa Waziri, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has in contrast dubbed it “the project of the century.”
In a video posted on Facebook on Friday, Waziri showed workers setting blocks of granite on the base of the pyramid, which sits besides the sphinx and the larger Khafre and Cheops pyramids at Giza.
When originally built, the pyramid was encased in granite, but over time lost part of its covering.
The renovation aims to restore the structure’s original style by reconstructing the granite layer.
Work is slated to last three years and will be “Egypt’s gift to the world in the 21st century”, said Waziri, who heads the Egyptian-Japanese mission in charge of the project.
“The only thing missing was to add tiling to the pyramid of Menkaure! When are we going to stop the absurdity in the management of Egyptian heritage?” she asked.
“All international principles on renovations prohibit such interventions, Hanna added, calling on all archaeologists to “mobilise immediately.”
The issue of heritage preservation in Egypt — which derives 10 percent of its gross domestic product from tourism — is often the subject of heated debate.
Recent destruction of entire areas of Cairo’s historic area led to powerful mobilisations by civil society, which is largely banned from political activity and now concentrates the bulk of its fight with the government on urban planning and heritage issues.
The debate has lately focused on the fifteenth-century Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi mosque in the coastal city of Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest.
Local authorities announced an investigation after a contractor in charge of renovation decided to repaint in white the ornate, carved and coloured ceilings of the city’s largest mosque.
