Egypt’s Grand Museum re-creates solar alignment phenomenon on Ramses II statue

CAIRO – 22 October 2020: Following the footsteps of the ancestors to create historic glories, the Egyptians managed to re-create the phenomenon of the sun illuminating the face of Ramses II statue in its permanent location in the Grand Egyptian Museum.

The phenomenon has become a reality on October 21, 2020.

Work to re-create this phenomenon came after the idea was adopted by Atef Moftah, the general supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum and the surrounding area.

Moftah directed studying and applying this phenomenon in October 2019, and formed a team of engineers and archeologists, in cooperation with Ahmed Awad, a researcher at the Faculty of Engineering, to work on re-creating that astronomical phenomenon.

It took an entire year of astronomical studies and careful engineering calculations for the phenomenon to be recreated in the museum’s lobby, on the face of the statue of King Ramses II, just like the biannual event in Abu Simbel Temple.

The application of this phenomenon within the lobby of the Grand Egyptian Museum aims to create a cultural and touristic celebration to be linked to the original civilizational phenomenon at the Abu Simbel Temple.