Statue of Ramses II Unveiled at Luxor Temple

The statue of Ramses II was unveiled at Luxor Temple yesterday, in the presence of the Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Medbouli along with ministers of Tourism, Archeology, Health, Culture. Also attending were the iconic Archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass and Ahmed Al-Waseef, president of the Egyptian Federation of Tourist Chambers.

On his part, Dr. Mustafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the Egyptian-American archaeological team succeeded in the assembly and restoration of this statue. This was the last statue of five other statues of King Ramses II. During the past two years, the Ministry of Antiquities succeeded in collecting and placing two other statues of the king in the Temple of Luxor.

The statue is about 12 meters high and weighs nearly 60 tons, made of pink granite and depicts the king standing.

The remains of this statue were discovered during the excavations of the Egyptian archaeological team headed by Dr. Mohamed Abdelkader inside the temple in 1958 and until 1960, which also uncovered parts of other statues that were found destroyed in the place.

It is thought that the statues were probably destroyed as a result of a devastating earthquake which had hit Egypt in ancient times. Dr. Abdul Qader assembled the blocks of statues and did the restoration and placed them on the wooden terraces next to their original place to protect them until the Ministry of Antiquities in 2017 started the restoration process for these statues one after another.