Second Khufu Solar Ship to be restored live before visitors at Egypt’s Grand Museum

CAIRO – 11 August 2021: Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Archaeological Affairs at the Grand Egyptian Museum Al-Tayeb Abbas said that the Grand Egyptian Museum’s visitors will see the restoration work of the second Khufu Solar Ship in action, during their visit to the museum.

Abbas added that the work of assembling the boat will not take place before the opening of the Grand Museum, as it requires a very long time to be completely assembled.

Abbas further explained that the work of assembling and restoring the second Khufu Solar Ship will take nearly 3 years, due to the poor condition of the wood that was extracted from the boat pit. The excavation was carried out in cooperation with the Japanese grant, and 1,700 pieces of wood were extracted.

The discovery of the two ships of King Khufu dates back to May 26, 1954, when journalist Kamal Al-Malakh announced the discovery. It is considered one of the most important and unique discoveries of King Khufu’s antiquities found on the south side of the Great Pyramid of Cheops [Khufu].

Kamal Al-Malakh and restorer Ahmed Youssef worked on discovering, restoring and re-installing the first ship, which came to light after nearly 5000 years of its creation.

As for the second Khufu Ship restoration project, extracting the timber is one of the largest restoration projects reflecting the fruitful cooperation between Japan and Egypt.

The project is carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Antiquities, Japan's Waseda University and Higashi Nippon International University headed by Dr. Sakuji Yoshimura, with the support of the International Cooperation Agency (JICA).