As I’m writing now, our King Ramses II is finally making his way to his new home in Giza.
I posted before on the rehearsal, which was successful, but now is the BIG DAY! The statue was scheduled to start moving by 1am, and is expected to arrive at the Grand Egyptian Museum by the Giza platue in 7 or 8 hours (depending on the traffic?). There was a previous report on postponing the move to 6 October instead of 25 August, coz of Israel’s war on Lebanon. With the ceasfire, I guess the govt decided to go ahead with the original schedule.
I went to check out the square in the afternoon, and spoke with some ordinary people as well as engineers involved in the project. Most said they were for moving the statue, to escape the bloody pollution. But they were all sad Ramsis Basha would be around no more. I heard lots of jokes, as expected, on how the Se3eedis (Upper Egyptians) will be lost now when they arrive in Cairo’s central train station. The statue had always been the main placemark for any non-Cairene.
I took some pix of the statue earlier in the afternoon. You can find them on my flickr account. You can also find a slideshow, by Nasser Nouri, of the previous rehearsal that took place on 27 July here.
I posted before on the rehearsal, which was successful, but now is the BIG DAY! The statue was scheduled to start moving by 1am, and is expected to arrive at the Grand Egyptian Museum by the Giza platue in 7 or 8 hours (depending on the traffic?). There was a previous report on postponing the move to 6 October instead of 25 August, coz of Israel’s war on Lebanon. With the ceasfire, I guess the govt decided to go ahead with the original schedule.
I went to check out the square in the afternoon, and spoke with some ordinary people as well as engineers involved in the project. Most said they were for moving the statue, to escape the bloody pollution. But they were all sad Ramsis Basha would be around no more. I heard lots of jokes, as expected, on how the Se3eedis (Upper Egyptians) will be lost now when they arrive in Cairo’s central train station. The statue had always been the main placemark for any non-Cairene.
I took some pix of the statue earlier in the afternoon. You can find them on my flickr account. You can also find a slideshow, by Nasser Nouri, of the previous rehearsal that took place on 27 July here.
UPDATE: Nasser Nouri kindly shared some of the pix he took of the King’s march. I uploaded them to my flickr account.
the whole thing just pisses me off!!
I want him in the square.. but alas! he’s moving right now :'(
I know how you feel Lasto. I can’t imagine the square without him anymore! But what can we do? The pollution was finishing off the geezer:( .
Anyway he’s really getting the royal treatment. Qasr al Aini street alongside Garden City, where I live, has been decorated with rather nice potted plants. A taxi driver said it was because of Ramses, although I was expecting the president was coming through or something. His whole iitinerary has been cleaned up.
“Anyway he’s really getting the royal treatment.”
Well, this is how it should be. Ra3Mes is the greatest of all kings of Egypt. His body received official royal reception when it arrived in Paris for examination.
Now that he’s going closer to his hometown, a replica can be installed in the ugly square if need be, like the one in AlOruba St.
I just saw that statue being moved away in the news, it’s quite something.
The statues re-placing should have been better planned. If this was made into a big deal, not only would the crazy tourists come all the way to see this famous statue’s new home, but people all over the world would have gained a little more respect for our country. There should have been flags everywhere. there should have been a cermemony with his departure and his arrival. When Ramses went to england they gave him a salut upon arrival and gave him a real king’s treatment. this is a king, one of the greatest kings. And he is ours, could we not show any more appreciatian and gratitude?
Can’t the authorities just put the replica statue of Ramses in the place of the original? The poor Saidis (and us furrrners) will be less disoriented that way…
Maybe 3,000 years from now, our descendants will be very upset to see the statue of Pharoah Mubarak being removed from its pedestal.
Just another Pharaoh.
Didn’t anyone even consider doing something with the pollution? And what about the millions of people living and working in the same spot? Aren’t they eligable for the same treatment as a 38 tonne statue of granite?