Tourism experts have greeted a plan to open replica tombs for tourists on the west bank at Luxor with considerable scepticism, writes Riad Tawfik Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has recently announced a radical plan to try to save the ancient Egyptian tombs on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor. According to the plan, visitors will soon be unable to visit the tombs themselves and will instead be directed to replica tombs built nearby, with the first such replicas being those of the ancient Egyptian rulers Tutankhamun, Seti I and Nefertari. Antiquity officials have been concerned over the deterioration of the tombs, which attract some 9,000 visitors a day, for some time now. Scientists examining the tombs have warned of an elevated level of carbon dioxide and humidity in the air, as well as damage to the tombs' wall paintings and salt deposits on the walls, all connected to the excessive number of visitors. There are 63 tombs in the Valley of the Kings and 100 tombs in the Valley of the Queens, and experts are warning that these peerless archaeological destinations may be in danger. According to Gamal Mahgoub, head of the SCA's Central Department for Maintenance and Restoration, the large number of visitors leads to heightened humidity inside the tombs, which leads to their deterioration. Microscopic bacteria, encouraged by the higher humidity levels, grow on the tomb walls, leading to the erosion of the paint and stonework, he said. The SCA has been able to save the mummy of Tutankhamun from further deterioration, however. Following a two-year study of the mummy, the only royal mummy left in any of the tombs (the rest are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo), the mummy of Tutankhamun is now kept in a display cabinet in the tomb itself, this cabinet being specially designed to control internal temperature and humidity. Such measures have come at quite a cost, though. Visiting Tutankhamun's tomb now costs a steep LE100 ($17), and only 500 visitors per day are allowed to enter the tomb. Head of the SCA Zahi Hawass said that a site close to the Carter Rest House had been chosen for the construction of three tombs that would be exact replicas of those of Tutankhamun, Seti I and Nefertari. These new tombs would match the originals in every detail, he said, the design being done with the help of 3D imaging. The replica tombs would be painted in exactly the same way as the originals, Hawass said. The three original tombs will remain open to visitors willing to pay a very hefty fee, perhaps as high as LE50,000 ($8,500) per visit, but the question still remains of whether tourists in future will be willing to travel to Egypt to look at replica tombs. The closure of the original tombs and the opening of replicas could spell disaster for Luxor tourism. Hawass is confident that this will not happen, however, and he points to replicas elsewhere in the world. "This experiment is not new. It has been done in other countries, in the case of caves in France and sites in Glasgow in Scotland," Hawass said. "The closure of the tombs will be restricted to the three that have been announced, with the others remaining open to the public." In an attempt to shorten waiting times at the tombs themselves, night-time visits will also soon be introduced. The entire west bank is now lit up at night, a feat accomplished at a cost of LE50 million ($8.5 million). With the tombs and temples now lit up at night, visitors will shortly be able to visit them at any time, day or night. Many are sure to welcome such changes, since while the nights are pleasantly cool in Luxor, mornings and afternoons can be fiercely hot. A while back, spots appeared on the walls of Tutankhamun's tomb, and experts from the Getty Institute in California are examining these and developing a restoration plan for the tomb. Other tombs on the west bank are being excavated. According to Mustafa El-Waziri, chief inspector of antiquities for the west bank, an Egyptian team is now excavating Tomb 64, thought to contain the remains of an ancient Pharaoh who has yet to be named. However, despite Hawass's reassurances, tourism experts are not happy with the SCA's decision to offer tourists replica tombs instead of the real thing. According to Khaled El-Minawi, chairman of the Chamber of Tourist Companies, closure of the tombs will affect the volume of tourism in Luxor and southern Egypt. While El-Minawi agrees on the need to try to save the tombs, he said that this could be done in other ways, with tomb walls being put behind glass in an attempt to protect them from elevated levels of humidity and carbon dioxide, for example. Air- conditioning in the tombs could also be considered. "Tourists come to Egypt to see the real thing. If the idea is to see a replica, they can do that at home by looking at the Internet or at pictures. They come all this way, at great expense, to see the real thing, not an imitation," El-Minawi said.
