Egypt’s grand museum begins live restoration of ancient boat

Summary

• Egypt began restoring King Khufu's 4,600-year-old solar boat at the Grand Egyptian Museum, using a $3.5 million grant from JICA.
• The fragile boat, discovered in 1954, consists of 1,650 decayed wooden pieces, being treated with organic materials by Egyptian and Japanese experts.
• Tourism Minister Sherif Fathy aims to boost tourism (9% of GDP) by restoring heritage, targeting 19 million visitors in 2024 and a 7% increase by 2026.

CAIRO - Egypt began a public live restoration of King Khufu’s ancient solar boat at the newly-opened Grand Egyptian Museum
on Dec 23, more than 4,000 years after the vessel was first built.

Egyptian conservators used a small crane to carefully lift a fragile, decayed plank into the Solar Boats Museum hall – the first of 1,650 wooden pieces that make up the ceremonial boat of the Old Kingdom pharaoh.

The 4,600-year-old boat was built during the reign of King Khufu, the pharaoh who also commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The vessel was discovered in 1954 in a sealed pit near the pyramids, but its excavation did not begin until 2011 due to the fragile condition of the wood.

“You are witnessing today one of the most important restoration projects in the 21st century,” Egyptian Tourism Minister Sherif Fathy told reporters.

“It is important for the museum, and it is important for humanity and the history and the heritage.”

The restoration will take place in full view of visitors to the Grand Egyptian Museum over the coming four years.

The project is funded by a US$3.5 million (S$4.5 million) grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with Japanese archaeologists working alongside Egyptian specialists.

Dr Eissa Zidan, head of conservation projects at the museum, said the wooden planks were “thermally degraded and in a very weak condition”.

“For this reason, archaeological missions had long avoided working on this project,” he told AFP.

Egyptian and Japanese archeologists have been treating the boat’s planks and oars using organic materials, including nano-cellulose and Klucel E, that Dr Zidan said met international restoration standards.

The museum also houses a second solar boat from the same era, discovered in significantly better archaeological condition and previously exhibited next to the pyramids of Giza.

Visitors have been flocking to the Grand Egyptian Museum since it opened in early November.

Mr Fathy said the museum receives an average of 15,000 daily visitors, and on some days even draws as many as 27,000 people.

The government hopes the museum will help revive the tourism sector, which accounts for around 9 per cent of Egypt’s gross domestic product and employs nearly two million people.

After years of struggle due to political instability and the Covid-19 pandemic, Egypt hopes to increase tourist numbers by about 7 per cent in 2026, from 19 million visitors this year, according to Mr Fathy. AFP