Restoration works of 29 ram statues in Luxor Temple resumes

CAIRO – 25 August 2020: Ahmed Orabi, director general of the Luxor Temple, said that the restoration work and upgrading of 29 ram statues, located directly behind the first pylon from the east, are continuing. The rams were in a bad  condition, as the last restoration work was carried out in the seventies.

Orabi explained in press statements that the restoration work is carried out using the most modern, practical and internationally recognized methods, and that the restoration of these rams using cement and red bricks negatively affected them, and caused some damages to the statues especially on the lower part of it.

It is noteworthy that the 29 rams have started their restoration based on the approval of the Permanent Committee of Egyptian Antiquities issued on Feb. 25, 2020, under the supervision and full support of Egypt’s Minister of Tourism & Antiquities Khaled el-Anani and under the leadership of Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, in carrying out the restoration work of 29 of the rams statues located behind the first pylon, in front of the Bubastian columns in the Karnak temple, moving them and making new terraces in place of the dilapidated terraces on which these statues are located.

Work on this project was started on March 23, 2020, under the supervision of the restoration department represented by the restoration specialist Mohamed Gad, the engineering department in Luxor and the chief foreman of Karnak Temples Mahmoud Farouk el-Sayed.

It is considered one of the largest and most significant restoration projects of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Also, when work began on the project, the ram statues were not placed on any bases at all, but a hollow bench was found that was filled with fragments of different sizes from sandstone blocks; the blocks found were ones reused from other locations.

Immediately, the members of the working team raised, cleaned and restored the bottom of these statues, and removed the old restoration of cement and red brick blocks that preserve water and salts, which helped, in the absence of stone bases on which these statues rest, in allowing ground water to penetrate between the lower part of the ram until it reached the base, which led to the transformation of some parts of it into sand powder.