The Statue of Ramesses II is a 3,200-year-old figure of

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, wikt:rꜥ-ms-sw, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is oft ...

, depicting him standing. It was discovered in 1820 by

Giovanni Battista Caviglia Giovanni Battista Caviglia (1770 in Genoa – September 7, 1845, in Paris) was an Italian explorer, navigator and Egyptologist. He was one of the pioneers of Egyptian archeology of his time. He was influential in the excavation of the Sphin ...

at the Great Temple of Ptah near

Memphis, Egypt , alternate_name = , image = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the pillared hall of Ramesses IIat Mit Rahina , map_type = Egypt#Africa , map_alt = , map_size = , relief = , coordinates = ...

. It is made from red

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and weighs 83 tons. The statue was found broken in six pieces and earlier attempts at restoration failed. In 1955,

Egyptian Prime Minister The prime minister of Egypt () is the head of the Egyptian government. A direct translation of the Arabic-language title is "Minister-President of Egypt" and "President of the Government". The Arabic title can also be translated as "President of ...

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

moved it to the large Bab Al-Hadid Square in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, outside Cairo's main railway station; the square was then renamed Ramses Square. There the statue was restored to its full height of 11 meters and erected on a three-metre pedestal at the edge of a fountain. It was stabilized by iron bars inside the body. Over time Ramses Square turned out to be an unsuitable location, as the statue was exposed to corrosive pollution and constant vibration from traffic and subways. The Egyptian government decided to relocate it to a more appropriate location in 2006. At a temporary site on the

Giza Plateau The Giza Plateau ( ar, هضبة الجيزة) is a plateau in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, site of the Fourth Dynasty Giza Necropolis, which includes the Great Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries ...

it underwent restoration before being moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

in 2018. The transportation of the statue from Ramses Square to Giza was a technological challenge that had been in the planning since 2002. A replica had been made and was transported several weeks before the scheduled actual move along the planned route to Giza to test the proposed relocation process. The move took place on August 25, 2006. During its ten-hour transport the statue was wrapped and covered in rubber foam. Two flat-back trucks carried the weight of the statue and its support structures as it travelled in a vertical position. The move has been criticized for its costs and the concern about pollution in the Giza location.

References

External links

Website of Dr. Zahi Hawass about the statueWebsite of BBC News about A stone carving of Ramesses II found at Abu Simbel
{{coord, 29.8713, N, 31.2164, E, source:wikidata, display=title 1820 archaeological discoveries Buildings and structures in Cairo Sculptures of ancient Egypt Ramesses Granite sculptures Relocated ancient Egyptian monuments Cultural depictions of Ramesses II