Intriguing news about Cheops, guess that means if you want to climb on
top of it, better get there now. Check out the story;
http://www.msnbc.com/news/276384.asp
Egypt reopens its largest pyramid
Restored tombs, valley temple of the Sphinx also reopened
DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTURCAIRO, June 3 — Egypt’s great Cheops pyramid, the
largest of the three Pharaonic tombs at the desert plateau of Giza, was
reopened to tourists Thursday following a year-long restoration project.
Renovation of the 4,500-year-old pyramid is part of preparations by the
Egyptian government for a millennium celebration at the site on New
Year’s Eve, including a 12-hour concert by French new age musician Jean
Michel Jarre.
THE PROJECT cost the government around 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($30,000)
with donations helping to keep the overall bill lower.
Engineers are also busy designing a golden cap to be affixed on top of
the 137-metre-high pyramid by helicopter to mark the year 2000.
Three restored tombs of ancient noblemen and the valley temple of the
Sphinx, discovered at the begining of this century, were also opened to
the public Thursday along with the two burial chambers inside the great
pyramid.
The repairs included mending of cracks, removal of graffiti and
installation of modern ventilation and lighting systems by a French
mission. An additional measure includes banned aircraft from flying over
Egypt’s ancient funerary edifices.
Among other protective measures to be imposed, only 300 visitors a day
will be allowed inside the Cheops pyramid, a reduction on the previous
daily figure of as many as several thousand tourists.
Egypt’s chief archeologist Gaballah Gaballah explained that visitor
numbers had to be kept down because human breathing and perspiration
caused a damagingly high level of humidity inside the ancient limestone
structure.
Zahi Hawass, director-general of the Giza Plateau told journalists that
the Grand Gallery at the pyramid, also known as the Khufu pyramid, had
300 cracks in addition to the salt deposits and graffiti left by
visitors.
Culture Minister Farouk Hosny and Gaballah, of the state council of
antiquities, inaugurated the new offerings which Hosny described as “a
message to the world that Egypt protects its antiquities ... a heritage
of all humanity.”
The dilapidated stairway leading from Cheops’ main entrance to the
king’s burial chamber was replaced by a new wooden one, inscriptions and
drawings on the walls of the three new tombs, south of the great
pyramid, were restored and new roofs were installed.
The Sphinx temple, which boasts 24 pillars representing the hours of the
day, had its cracks repaired, while the two other pyramids of Giza,
Chephren and Menkaure, are being prepared for restoration work and will
be closed to the public later this year.
This was the second facelift for the great pyramid in six years due to
persistent salt encrustations that emerged on its inner walls.
The Ministry of Culture has been subjected to sharp criticism, mainly by
the opposition, for spending close to half a million dollars on the
millennium celebrations instead of allocating that sum for social
projects in a country where poverty is rampant.
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