The gigantic red granite statue of Ramses II is finally saying goodbye to the traffic, fumes and noise of Cairo's busy Ramses Square. Nevine El-Aref reports Frequent travellers at Cairo's main railway station in downtown Ramses Square have watched over the past few weeks as the statue of Ramses II, which has been central to the square's geography since 1955, was being covered by a growing pile of iron scaffolding. The statue is being packed away for its eventual departure from the square that bears its name. After standing for decades at the centre of the perpetual traffic jam that exemplifies downtown Cairo, the red granite statue of the 19th-Dynasty Pharaoh will be moving to a new home at the Grand Egyptian Museum being planned for the Giza Plateau. Ten years after the Ministry of Culture and other concerned authorities began discussions over where to relocate the statue -- which was deteriorating badly as a result of exposure to fumes from the constant traffic -- the new museum was chosen as the most appropriate location. "This is the best place for the statue," said Culture Minister Farouk Hosni. "It will end its 49 long years of suffering and being hidden under a jungle of fly-overs." At the Grand Egyptian Museum, the statue will be better protected, since environmental conditions at the relatively remote plateau are much more suitable. It will also fit in well with the ancient Egyptian atmosphere of both the plateau and the new museum complex. Its current location in Ramses Square, where more than three major thoroughfares meet, and where both mainline rail and underground metro stations are located, had led to increasing damage from air pollution, Hosni said. "These environmental conditions might affect the statue in the future, as would the extensive vibrations resulting from the intense traffic," he said. Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary- General Zahi Hawass said, "Moving the magnificent statue of Ramses II from the chaos that usually defines Ramses Square is the best decision that could be taken to protect this statue from decay." Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly that he was not worried about the process of transporting the statue, since sufficient archaeological, geological and architectural studies were currently underway, and only state-of-the-art techniques would be used in providing safe carriage for the statue. Hawass promised that it would be untouched during the move, adding that specific tools made of rubber, foam and other more specialised materials would be used to transport the huge block of granite. Hawass said the final decision on whether the statue would be transferred as it is, in one piece, or whether it will be disassembled would only be taken two months after the situation is thoroughly studied by concerned authorities and the Arab Contractors company, which will handle the dismantling, transportation and re-erection of the statue. "However, we archaeologists prefer to cut the statue into two or three pieces, as during the salvage operation of the Nubian temples during the 1960s," Hawass noted. Questions also remained regarding the statue's route from central Cairo to Giza. Are the bridges the statue will be taken across strong enough to support its 90-tonne weight? Major-General Nader Abdel-Wahab, head of the SCA's Projects Department, said the statue's scheduled route had been comprehensively studied in collaboration with the Cairo and Giza governors, the army, the police and all the ministries concerned so that any obstacles would be removed. "The final route will be defined later, after the completion of all the studies," Abdel-Wahab said. Dozens of archaeologists and photographers are now documenting, drawing and photographing every single piece of the monument, which will remain under scaffolding until the move. Architects were also among the working team, said Mohamed Abdel-Fatah, director-general of antiquities for Upper Egypt. Like a pampered patient, the statue is being monitored every half-hour, and its weaker parts noted in an attempt to ensure maximum protection during the move. A special storehouse is now under construction to house the statue until the completion of the Grand Egyptian Museum, in at least five years time. Numerous decrees have been issued since 1994 regarding the transfer of the statue from its current location. The locations suggested included Mit- Rahina, 30kms from the Giza Plateau and the statue's original home. It was also suggested that it be put on display in Giza's Al-Rimayah Square, or at the entrance to the Cairo Opera House. The red granite statue of Ramses II was found in 1882, broken into six pieces, at the Great Temple of Ptah at Mit-Rahina. Endeavours were made at the time to restore and re-erect the statue in situ, but all attempts failed. The statue remained as such until February 1955, when the minister of governmental affairs, Abdel-Latif El-Boghdadi, decided to move it to Bab Al-Hadid (now Ramses Square), where it was restored and reassembled by inserting huge iron bars inside the body. It soon became one of Cairo's most famous landmarks, providing a backdrop for several famous Egyptian movie scenes. Not everyone thinks the statue needs to be moved. Abdel-Halim Nureddin, dean of the Faculty of Archaeology at Fayoum University, said the statue, in its present location, had become one of Cairo's main landmarks. "The LE6 million it will cost to transfer the statue could be used to finance other restoration projects, or build a museum or a storehouse," Nureddin said. The square itself, he added, had calmed down significantly ever since the taxi and microbus stops that polluted it had been eliminated. Nureddin also had a solution to the statue's lack of visibility. It could be re-erected on a longer base made of the same material so the bridges wouldn't hide it from view. Nureddin said other cities -- like Paris -- that had ancient obelisks prominently displayed in crowded areas dealt with the situation with specialised biannual cleanings.
