Naked on the pyramid in Egypt/Andreas Hvid - Climbing the Great Pyramid of Giza
One of the most famous symbols in the world - the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt - is currently undergoing a controversial facelift, which according to archaeologists does not meet scientific standards and raises concerns that the ancient wonder may be damaged, all in order to attract tourists.
Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said last week that a joint Egyptian-Japanese archaeological expedition will investigate, document and restore blocks of granite that once formed the exterior of the Menkaure Pyramid (Menkaure - pharaoh in about 2500 BC), the smallest of the three great pyramids.
In videos Posted on Facebook, Mustafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the pyramid - built around 2490 BC, is the only one among the 124 pyramids in the country that was built with an external coating of granite rock.
It has "five or six layers" of granite blocks, but originally had 16 or more, he said.
Waziri said the restoration work would take at least three years and described it as the "project of the century."
UNESCO is not aware of the project
But many surfers do not share Waziri's excitement.
Videos uploaded to social networks, which showed workers excavating blocks at the base of the pyramid, provoked sharp criticism online and experts' fears that the restoration attempt is more akin to desecration.
One commenter asked, "How can you think it's your job to change the pyramid after 4,500 years?"
Another pleaded, "Please respect the past, don't turn ancient heritage into a Disneyland park."
Although the Pyramid of Manchure is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the organization claimed in an email that it was unaware of the project and "wrote to the Egyptian authorities to request more information."
According to the Washington Post, Waziri and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities did not respond to requests for comment.
with an exclusive discount
The Israeli company that invented hair removers does it again
In collaboration with Epilady
This is how it looked before the renovation.
The Pyramid of Manchure/ShutterStock
"The renovation must be avoided at all costs"
In a statement shared by Monica Hanna, an archaeologist and Egyptologist at the Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, a group of archaeologists called the project "completely unscientific" and accused those behind it of chasing publicity over legitimate archaeological research.
They emphasized that the documentation cannot take place at the same time as the excavation shown in the video.
The continuation of the project "is tantamount to tampering with Egyptian antiquities and undermining its antiquities and history," the statement said.
The statement listed several concerns, including that there is "no archaeological or historical evidence" of the original location of the blocks on the pyramid, and claimed that they did not fall from it "but were left by the pyramid workers as unfinished business."
Attempting to refine the raw blocks left around the pyramid and use them as cladding would be "a blatant interference with the work of the ancient Egyptians," it said.
Kathleen Cooney, a professor of Egyptian art and architecture at UCLA, pointed out the difference between conservation, which "preserves an object in the state it is in," and restoration, which "improves it, changes it, beautifies it" - and "should be avoided at all costs." .
She wrote in an email that the facade of Manchure's pyramid remains unfinished, which "teaches us about his kingship [and] the political affairs of the time."
"By returning blocks, we will destroy all that data," Cooney argued.
"And for what? To improve the past? To change the past?"
More on the same topic:
Egypt
pyramids
fleece
Cairo