Egypt pyramid renovation sparks debate

AFP | Cairo                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A video showing renovation work at Egypt’s Menkaure pyramid at Giza has triggered social media criticism, with one expert decrying its “absurdity”. Mostafa Waziri, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has in contrast dubbed it “the project of the century.”

In a video posted on Facebook on Friday, Waziri showed workers setting blocks of granite on the base of the pyramid, which sits besides the sphinx and the larger Khafre and Cheops pyramids at Giza. When originally built, the pyramid was encased in granite, but over time lost part of its covering.

The renovation aims to restore the structure’s original style by reconstructing the granite layer. Work is slated to last three years and will be “Egypt’s gift to the world in the 21st century”, said Waziri, who heads the Egyptian-Japanese mission in charge of the project.

But under the video, dozens of upset people left comments critical of the work. “Impossible!” wrote the Egyptologist Monica Hanna.

“The only thing missing was to add tiling to the pyramid of Menkaure! When are we going to stop the absurdity in the management of Egyptian heritage?” she asked. “All international principles on renovations prohibit such interventions, Hanna added, calling on all archaeologists to “mobilise immediately.”