The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt, which was built about four and a half thousand years ago.
The Great Pyramid stands in the desert southwest of Cairo as a symbol of the ability and vitality of a great civilization. But the Great Pyramid and the two other pyramids built near it are no longer what they were before.
They have suffered considerable damage during the last few centuries.
The treasures kept inside them were looted. The outer layer of the structure was also damaged. Now a big controversy has arisen regarding the Menkaure Pyramid of Giza because the Antiquities Department of Egypt wants to restore this pyramid, that is, it wants to repair and renovate it.
The head of Egypt’s antiquities department is calling this plan the biggest project of the century and saying that it will be a gift given by Egypt to the world. But many people believe that this restoration project is not in accordance with the rules and principles of archaeological conservation.
There is opposition to this plan within and outside the country. Because of this, perhaps the administration may be forced to think twice about this matter.
This week in the world we will try to know what is happening with the Egyptian pyramids?
Eden Dodson, professor of Egyptology at Bristol University, UK, says about the pyramids, “Egyptian pyramids are actually tombs. And the royal pyramids we are talking about are a special type of tombs. It has three aspects, one of which is its pointed top.
“Inside the royal mausoleum there is a room which contains a grave. According to some beliefs, it is also the bedroom of eternity. Another aspect of the royal mausoleum is that in it the deceased can maintain contact between this world and the other world.
“So there is also a temple or a place of worship, where people can pray or make offerings to the deceased and where the soul of the deceased can come into this world. During the time of the pyramid i.e. 2600 BC and 1550 BC, the pyramid was seen through its two aspects. That means they were both tombs and places of prayer.
It is difficult to say anything concrete about why the shape of the pyramid was chosen for the royal tombs, but Eden Dodson says that it may be related to the Egyptian sun god ‘Ra’, who was considered the most powerful of all the gods in Egyptian mythology. Was considered the father of.
Eden Dodson says, one belief is that the shape of the pyramid reflects the spread of sun rays from the sky to the earth. Among the three pyramids in the plains of Giza, the Menkaure Pyramid is the smallest. Its height is about 60 meters and its floor extends for a hundred meters in all directions.
Eden Dodson believes that Menkaure’s pyramid was smaller, but more magnificent than other pyramids. The walls of its lower part were covered with granite.
The outer walls of all the pyramids have now become like stairs, but earlier there used to be a layer of soft stones on their outer walls.
Polished limestone was used for this. About half of Menkaure’s pyramid was covered with granite stones.
Each block of this red granite weighed more than two tons, which was brought on rafts through the Nile River from Aswan, five hundred miles away.
Eden Dodson said, “The outer layer of the Menkaure pyramid has almost completely been torn off.” There is also a big hole in one of its walls. It is said that a medieval king of Egypt had tried to demolish it. Now the granite layer remains intact only on 15-29 percent of this pyramid.
“There are broken blocks of granite stones lying on the sand around the pyramid. The layer of good quality polished limestone has already been removed from its upper part. Perhaps in medieval Cairo those stones were removed and used in mosques.
Now the plan being made for the restoration of the Menkaure pyramid is being led by Dr. Mustafa Waziri, who is the head of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities. He himself is a well-known archaeologist. But his plan is mired in controversies.
plans for the pyramids
About a month ago Mustafa Vaziri released a video. In this, he was seen standing on a granite stone near the Menkaure pyramid. Many workers were working on the pyramid around him. It was being indicated from this video that work has started there.
Dr. Jennifer Hallum, Professor of Ancient History at Auckland University, New Zealand, says that after watching this video it is hard to imagine how large a scale the work is going to be done there. Work has never been done on such a large scale before.
“He was showing how he would repair this pyramid. In this video he was talking to the workers in Arabic language. It seemed as if these workers were removing the debris lying around the pyramid. It seemed as if this video had been made for the purpose of showing it in the media.
Egyptologists and archaeologists around the world were quite surprised by this incident. There was a sharp reaction to this. The Egyptian government immediately formed a committee of experts. This committee has opposed this plan. But what did the head of Egypt’s Antiquities Department suggest about the restoration of Menkaure’s pyramid?
“We learned that he had made contact with a Japanese group,” said Dr. Jennifer Hallum. It is said that they want to recoat the Menkaure pyramid with granite. This granite is different from the stone used in other pyramids of Giza. They say that these granite stones were going to be used in the construction of this pyramid. “Enough granite stone is already present there to be used in seven rows of granite layers.”
He says that nine rows of granite layers are missing from this pyramid and he wants to put it back on the pyramid. Is this a good plan?
Dr. Jennifer Hallum says, “The question is whether they have thought about the fact that the original limestone used there was already not of good quality, so a layer of granite had to be put on it. Due to hundreds of years of weathering, the condition of those stone blocks has deteriorated further. “And have they noticed how stable they are now?”
“The granite blocks lying there have not been polished because those blocks were polished and shaped just before they were placed in the pyramid. These stones have not been polished so if they were coated, they would It will not match the original pyramid.
No one can say with certainty whether the granite blocks lying near the Menkaure pyramid were ever used on that pyramid or not. Some Egyptologists or Egyptologists also believe that Menkaure died at a young age, hence the construction of his pyramid was incomplete, due to which the materials used in it remained lying there. But now the plan to put these granite blocks in the pyramid has sparked a debate on the fundamental principles of archaeology.
Dr. Jennifer Hallum says that instead of preserving this pyramid, it is being renovated, which is against the guidelines of the Venice Treaty made for the protection of ancient heritages around the world.
Dr. Jennifer Helum says that Mustafa Vaziri has not consulted UNESCO and the archaeologists associated with this work. The purpose of his dramatic video was to create an uproar about the pyramids. But if this uproar focuses the world’s attention on the pyramids, it can help in attracting tourists.
pyramid attraction
Hiba Saleh, Cairo correspondent of ‘Financial Times’, says that tourism is very important for Egypt’s economy because it provides employment to ten percent of the country’s population. Tourism accounts for 12 percent of the total gross domestic product (GDP). This provides foreign exchange to the country, which is very important for it because Egypt has been suffering from foreign exchange shortage for the last two years.
At the same time, due to the fighting in Gaza, the traffic through Suez Canal has been badly affected. The income from it has decreased, hence it has become even more important to promote tourism.
She says, “I think the government feels that the country’s tourism resources have not been fully utilised. There are many ancient buildings and heritage sites in Egypt. There is also a desert where desert safari can be promoted. There is a long beach which tourists can enjoy and a lot can be done to attract them here.
The pyramids are the main attraction of Egypt’s tourism industry. Every year millions of tourists come to the country but the Egyptian government has faced many problems in attracting tourists.
Hiba Saleh believes that political instability has a direct impact on tourism. For example, in 2015, a plane carrying Russian tourists exploded as it took off from Sharm el-Sheikh. Due to this, the tourism industry suffered huge losses for many years. When the tourism industry started getting back on track, the Covid pandemic arrived.
To promote tourism, the Egyptian government has started projects for the conservation and restoration of many ancient heritages. But the biggest project is the Grand Egyptian Museum or GEM project which can become the largest museum of ancient Egyptian artefacts and sculptures in the world.
Hiba Saleh told that work on the GEM project was going on for twenty years. Now it is almost complete. She says that it is likely to be inaugurated this year. Egypt wants to organize a grand event for this. Leaders from all over the world will be invited to it. This museum will have millions of ancient artefacts and objects. It will also contain valuable materials from Tutankhamun’s treasure. Egypt hopes that this museum will help a lot in attracting tourists.
The plan to resurface the Menkaure pyramid with granite is part of an effort to clean and brighten ancient buildings across Egypt. But many people believe that due to this their original form will not remain intact. Many people are opposing this.
Hiba Saleh says that this scheme was not properly presented to the people nor was any consultation with experts. Therefore, a debate has arisen as to what should be the balance between conservation and restoration of ancient buildings.
Conservation of the Pyramids
Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University of Cairo, says that before adding a single granite stone to the Menkaure pyramid, engineers and experts should investigate what effect it will have on the structure. They are worried that hasty steps could cause permanent damage.
“There has been no granite layer on this structure for thousands of years. Now if we apply that layer, will it change the balance of the structure?
From the video that surfaced, it seemed that work on the Menkaure pyramid had started, but when there was an uproar, the government formed a committee of archaeologists who opposed the plan to repair the pyramid, raising questions on its implementation.
Salima Ikram says that conservation is a complex issue, on which there are different opinions. There is no straight answer to this because it also depends on the nature of the building. One view is that if there is a crack, it should be filled with material matching the material originally used in the construction of the building, or it should be left as it is. It depends on what the purpose of conservation is.
Salima Ikram says that the material that has fallen from an ancient building can be reinstalled, but whatever work is done should be such that if it does not look right, it can be removed. For example, in the seventies and eighties, cement was used for these purposes, which became difficult to remove and caused damage to those ancient buildings.
“The aim of conservationists is to preserve ancient structures in their original form. Nothing should be done that could jeopardize the safety of the building.
Now coming back to our main question – What is happening with the Egyptian pyramids? As experts told us, conservation of ancient buildings is a complex issue.
The pyramids have been attracting tourists from all over the world for thousands of years. It is very important for Egypt’s tourism industry. But if wrong methods are used for their conservation, they can be harmed.
The second thing is that we do not know what their original form was when they were made. In such a situation, it would be better to leave them in the same situation in which they are now.
