New dawn for City of the Sun

The site of ancient Heliopolis has been off the tourist map for years, but Nevine El-Aref discovers that it is rapidly being developed as an interesting destination
When it comes to tourist attractions near Cairo, Giza, Saqqara and Dahshur claim all the glory. Pamphlets and posters, postcards and documentaries lavish attention on these sites, giving little time to other perhaps less majestic, but equally remarkable, archaeological areas. This is soon to be remedied.
Excavators, engineers, and restorers have been turning the site of biblical On, present-day Matariya, into a hive of activity. Zahi Hawass declared in an interview when he took over as secretary- general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) last month that more sites in Egypt would be opened to provide alternative attractions for tourists, and to relieve the pressure on the most frequently-visited monuments. Matariya is one of the first on the agenda.
The site is scheduled to open officially before the summer sets in. Its most well- known antiquity is the 20.4-metre-high granite obelisk erected by the Middle Kingdom Pharaoh Senusert I which, along with the nearby Tree of the Holy Virgin and the tomb of Banehsi, the Saite ruler of Lower Egypt during the short reign (595-589 BC) of the 26th-dynasty Pharaoh Psammetikos II, are for the first time about to be linked on a tourist itinerary.
In Pharaonic times ancient On (Heliopolis in Greek) was the centre of the sun cult, vying with Memphis and Luxor as one of the three most important cities in the land. Unfortunately it was almost totally obliterated in modern times by urban expansion. The situation was partially remedied in 1950, when the then Antiquities Department commissioned a German firm to raise the obelisk on a base of about two metres. Some effort was made to clear and develop the site, and lawns were planted to enhance the surroundings.
Later, in the mid-1970s, further improvements were made to the area around the obelisk and the nearby Tree of the Virgin. Yet they remained largely inaccessible to tourists until the completion of a new bridge over the railway station separating Cairo from Matariya.
Chance has now played a hand. In 1993, when foundations and drainage were being dug for a new house near the granite obelisk, a cache of limestone statues, granite sarcophagi and stelae was found. These again come from the 26th-dynasty Saite Period, and the style of decoration and their size suggest that they were either royal or belonged to high-ranking officials. The monuments, once cleaned and restored, were put on temporary exhibition beside the obelisk.
Then, last year, another tomb was accidentally discovered two kilometres east of the obelisk after a land owner, in accordance with the 1983 Antiquities Law, put in a request for an archaeological inspection before building a house. This resulted in the discovery of the resting place of Waja-Hur, a well-known 26th- dynasty builder or architect. The tomb is impressive. It consists of two long corridors leading to three burial chambers -- the first belonging to the deceased and the other two, which have not yet been excavated, perhaps to members of his family. Although devoid of funerary equipment, the tomb contained 19 ushabti figures bearing the name of the deceased.
"Archeological sites all over the country are threatened by environmental pollution and other causes, but none more seriously or rapidly as those of ancient Heliopolis," said Ahmed El-Sawi, an Egyptologist who took part in the studies carried out by the SCA in 1988.
"Banehsi's tomb is decorated with mortuary texts and coloured reliefs, and it is worth saving, but because it was found 60 metres below ground level it was partly inundated." The limestone blocks had tilted, cracks had appeared, and the salinated water had damaged the reliefs, he said.
Following the recent discoveries, and with ancient Heliopolis now easily accessible on the new flyovers, the idea of developing the site into a tourist destination resurfaced. This time it was regarded with some urgency and the project was put into rush mode.
The idea is to develop this as a tourist destination as rapidly as possible in order to curb further damage to monuments through leakage of subterranean and drainage water, and also because continued urban expansion is causing irreparable harm to the surviving monuments above and below the surface.
"To protect Banehsi's tomb from further damage, an insulating substance was placed between the ground and the lower strata of blocks, and the reliefs were cleansed of salt encrustation and restored," said Abdel-Hamid Qutb, director-general of the engineering department at Giza.
The tomb of Banehsi has now, quite literally, been rescued. That is to say it was not restored in situ, but dismantled and removed to another site. The first stage of the project was to pump out the water from the tomb and remove and treat the blocks. A new location was chosen for reconstruction in a dry area well above ground water level, and a concrete base installed. This area is now being developed as an open air museum. A group of royal granite sarcophagi found near Banehsi's tomb has already been taken there for display.
Thus, in the heart of the concrete jungle of Matariya, an outdoor museum is rapidly taking shape. One of its highlights will be a four metre-high quartzite statue of Ramses II, which was found broken in the backyard of the Arab Contractors Hospital in Nasr City. This ancient masterpiece, unnoticed and neglected, had been subjected to rude violation by workmen in the area; they wiped their paint brushes over the statue's head and beard. The statue was so spoiled and obscured beneath filth and paint that it remained unnoticed for more than 14 years. It has now been placed at the entrance to the new outdoor museum.
The museum is being paved with blocks of stone. A route will be laid out for tourists starting at the colossus and leading to Banehsi's tomb and the collection of granite sarcophagi, on to the tomb of Waja-Hur, and then out of the museum where tourists will be directed towards the Tree of the Virgin. They will end up at the famous obelisk.
This area, with its collection of miscellaneous offering tables, statues, and fragments of an obelisk belonging to Thutmose II superimposed with inscriptions of Ramses II, as well as objects bearing the names of Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III, is being prepared for show. The garden originally planted to enhance the area will be removed because the water needed for its maintenance is damaging the monuments.
"Each statue will be set up on a base with full details on placards," Hawass said. "Excavations will continue in this area, and we are confident that more monuments will be unearthed. When they are, they will be properly treated and restored and placed in the new museum area."
Workmen and restorers are milling round, brushing sand off objects, cleaning tomb walls and positioning objects for display.
"Every effort is being made to develop this open-air museum for Pharaonic and Greaco-Roman artifacts. It is going to be a pleasure to see," Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni promised.
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