Restoration of Ramses ll is complete

CAIRO – 29 April 2018: The Egyptian Archaeological mission restored the façade of Luxor Temple to what it used to look like thousands of years ago. It has been restored after the destruction of the Statues of Ramses ll about 1,600 years ago by the colonists. Made of black granite, the statue is about 12 meters high and weighs almost 70 tons.

This restoration was under the patronage of Khaled Al-Anani, minister of antiquities.
Director General of Luxor Antiquities and the Head of the Egyptian Archaeological Mission Mustafa Waziri said that two statues of King Ramses were restored, the first was on April 18, 2017 and the second on April 20, 2018.

He added that “the Egyptian restoration and monument team challenged themselves and succeeded by their great expertise without the help of any foreigner in restoring the two statues. The whole world was watching and monitoring this event, which was conducted by pure Egyptian hands” and with the support of Al Anani and the governor of Luxor Mohamed Badr.

The head of the Egyptian archaeological mission clarified in special remarks to Egypt Today that the mission team consisted of the Head of the Luxor Temple Ahmed Arabi, 10 archeologists, 10 of the Egyptian archeological restoration team and 30 workers have made great efforts during the last period. They succeeded in returning the statues to its original location. Al-Anani thanked the Egyptian restoration men for carrying out this huge project in restoring the façade of the Luxor Temple.

According to Mustafa Waziri, the ancient drawings of the temple had six statues; only two are remaining and another on the western side. Next to this statue is another statue made of grey granite, which was destroyed and broken to more than 80 pieces in the fourth and fifth century. Sixty percent of the statue is present the rest are missing. The mission succeeded in returning the statue to its place in a world ceremony on April 18, 2017.

Ramses ll was the third Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty and lived until he was 96 years old. He married over 200 women; he had 96 sons and six daughters. The King was known to the ancient Egyptians as the Keeper of Harmony and Balance, Strong in Right, Elect of Ra. The King was also named Ozymandias and as Ramses the Great, according to ancient.eu website.