Press release
August 7, 2021
48 hours after the start of the transfer process
The arrival of King Khufu’s first boat to the Grand Egyptian Museum
A short while ago, during the early hours of Saturday morning, the Grand Egyptian Museum received the first boat of King Khufu 48 hours after transferring it from its display in the pyramid antiquities area to the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The project to transport the first Khufu boat aims to preserve the largest, oldest and most important organic relic, made of wood, in human history, which is the first Khufu boat, which is more than 4600 years old and to display it in a proper manner commensurate with its importance in the Grand Egyptian Museum.
Major General Atef Moftah, the general supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum project and the surrounding area, explained that the process of transferring the first Khufu boat is one of the most important, complex and unique archaeological engineering projects, stressing that the work team did not leave anything in it to chance or experience. It is the result of effort, fatigue, effort, study, planning, preparation and serious work that spanned nearly a year, indicating that the process of transporting the boat was carried out with great accuracy while ensuring all means of protection for the boat, which was transferred as one piece inside a metal structure and was lifted to the smart vehicle remote control mechanism that was specially brought in For this purpose from the outside, the boat settled in its new location in the building of the Khufu Boat Museum in the Grand Egyptian Museum.
He added that this vehicle has a superior ability to overcome any obstacles it may encounter on the road and manoeuvre in curves and coils, and absorb any vibrations. Loaded with the same weights, dimensions and prominence of the boat, which is 42 meters long and weighs 20 tons, with the installation of special measurement devices to test the performance of the vehicle, the stability of the chassis and the inclination of the road, to ensure that the boat arrives in complete safety.
Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, confirmed that the process of transferring the Khufu boat came after the approval of the Permanent Committee of Egyptian Antiquities by the Antiquities Protection Law, to preserve the boat that was displayed in a museum in its name that was built on the site where it was discovered in 1954 at the southern side of the Great Pyramid in the area The effects of the pyramid, which for decades have distorted the aesthetic view of the Great Pyramid, the only surviving wonder of the seven ancient wonders of the world, but the means of display and preservation of the boat do not keep pace with the modern and advanced methods of display, so it had to be transferred to preserve it for future generations.
Dr Mustafa Waziri added that the preparatory work for implementing the transport project was carried out by high-level archaeological engineering committees in cooperation with local and international scientific bodies, with full commitment to securing the boat and not exposing it to any risks during the transport process.
He added that in August 2020, the Khufu Boat Museum was closed in the pyramid antiquities area. Rehabilitation work began to transfer it to the Khufu boat building in the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is currently equipped with the latest scientific and technological methods for museum display and modern monitoring and measurement devices to preserve this important organic monument. And unique.
For his part, Dr Al-Tayeb Abbas, Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Archaeological Affairs at the Grand Egyptian Museum, said that before the transfer, a radar survey was conducted of the rocky ground under the old museum building in the pyramid antiquities area up to the asphalt road on the eastern side to ensure its ability to withstand the weights, corridors and metal tensioners that were carried out. Established to rehabilitate the building and the vehicle for transportation.
He pointed out a distinguished team of restorers from the restoration centre of the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who conducted a laser scan of the boat to document its smallest details and packaged in preparation for transportation. In parallel, the metal structure was designed and manufactured around the boat, and metal scaffolding and anchors were erected outside and inside the building to support it.
Dr Al-Tayeb Abbas confirmed that the process of removing the boat from its old headquarters faced great complications and challenges, which were overcome by the committee formed by the museum administration and its archaeologists and their colleagues from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, consultants and engineers from consulting offices and professors of the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University. A quick plan was developed to strengthen the boat and the building.
Dr Issa Zidan, Executive Director of the Restoration and Transfer of Antiquities in the Museum, said that before the transfer, the work team of archaeologists and restorers of the Grand Egyptian Museum and their colleagues from the Supreme Council of Antiquities documented all the work that took place inside and outside the boat, including unwinding, packaging, consolidation and sterilization, and all existing marks were monitored. On the wood of the boat by the ancient Egyptian, which was also referred to by the restorer Ahmed Youssef before, which are signs related to the directions of the wooden pieces and linking them to each other, as well as the numbers and arrangement of those pieces, in addition to evaluating the condition of the boat and all its parts as a whole and preparing a detailed report on its condition before the transportation process.
He added that the boat was also mechanically cleaned and completely sterilized during all stages of work, in addition to strengthening the weak parts of the boat’s body, injecting and strengthening some cracks and wrapping some parts that were dismantled such as oars, using the scientific methods used in transporting and packaging antiquities and securing them inside the wooden boxes that It was prepared in advance specifically for it, indicating that incubators were made around the entire body of the boat and tied tightly inside the metal structure to ensure the stability of the boat inside to avoid any movement during the transportation process, in addition to providing the boat with measuring devices that were prepared to monitor the surrounding environment of temperature and humidity And the measurement of vibrations and shocks during the transportation process.
It is worth noting that the Grand Egyptian Museum will organize, during the next few days, a conference for the various media on the details of the transfer of the first Khufu boat from the place where it was displayed in.