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French TV Shoots Documentary with Zahi Hawass in Hawara Pyramid


Tue 15 Oct 2019 | 02:03 PM
Ali Abu Dashish

French television filmed a documentary about the Pyramid of Hawara, in Fayoum, as a part of its documentary series "The Nile: Egypt’s Wonders Discovery".

Dr. Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist, discussed in the documentary the history of Hawara pyramid and its connection with the Nile and mortuary temple, also known as the “Labyrinth”.

He also answered questions about the origin of Fayoum and Lake Qarun.

The documentary series shooting will continue till the end of the month in Alexandria, Tanis City in Sharkia governorate, Wadi al-Jarf, and Luxor and Aswan.

It will be broadcast on a number of Europe television networks, in addition to the Australian television network.

Noteworthy, the Pyramid of Hawara was made for Amenemhet III of the 12th Dynasty in ancient Egypt.

It is located about 9 kilometers east of the oasis of Fayoum.

Amenemhet III was the sixth Pharaoh of the 12th dynasty of the Old Kingdom and reigned around 1850 B.C.

The Pyramid of Hawara was built out of brick stones and then coated by limestone. It is sometimes called the Black Pyramid.

The Pyramid—when it was still standing— was a large structure that was 58 meters high and each side of the base of the pyramid was around 100 meters long.

It contains many corridors and chambers, ending with the burial chamber, which was discovered within it a huge, quartzite monolith that weighed about 110 tons.

The chamber’s door was locked by a large blocking stone. Thieves could not enter the burial chambers from this door but were able to reach it through a hole in the ceiling, looting it and burning the funerary furniture.

Next to the pyramid is the remains of the Mortuary temple, which was a large temple built by Amenemhat III.

The temple is attached to the pyramid and used to contain 12 halls with ceilings, six of them positioned to the north and the other six positioned to the south.

It also used to have a large fortified wall and more than 300 different rooms and chambers with half of them located under the ground, while the rest of the rooms situated above the ground.

Nothing remains of this structure today except the pillars of the ground floor.

Contributed by Yara Sameh