Egyptian Tourism Officials Just Moved Four Ancient Sphinxes to a Tahrir Square Roundabout—and Archaeologists Are Horrified

In an attempt to boost tourism
in Cairo, Egyptian authorities have moved four ancient sandstone
sphinxes to a busy traffic circle in Tahrir Square. But experts say
the move threatens the condition of the historical
artifacts.

Last Saturday, Egyptian
authorities announced that they had completed the transfer of the
ram-headed sphinxes from Karnak temple in Luxor to the Cairo
square. There, the sphinxes joined a 90-ton granite
obelisk from the period of Ramses II, which was mounted at the
roundabout last year.

Egyptologists have largely
denounced the move, noting that the capital city’s heat levels and
air pollution will put the the ancient artifacts at
risk.

“We oppose this because of
concerns over the objects’ safety in the pollution of Tahrir Square
and [the threat to] the historical integrity of Karnak temple,”
Monica Hanna, an archeologist at the Arab Academy for Science,
Technology, and Maritime Transport, told The
Guardian. 

In December, Hanna and other
experts filed a joint lawsuit against Khaled El-Enany, Egypt’s
antiquities and tourism minister, and Mostafa Madbouly, its prime
minister, over the move. The case has yet to be resolved in
court. 

The Tahrir Square relocations
are part of a larger effort to turn the area into a tourist
destination, according to El-Enany, whose department helped finance
the development project with the Ministry of Housing, Utilities,
and Urban Communities, and the Cairo Government.

“When we go to European
capitals, like Rome or Paris or London, and also Washington, we see
that they use Egyptian obelisks in decorating their major tourist
squares, so why do we not do the same?” El-Enany told the Egyptian
newspaper Al-Ahram. 

Critics argue that the
cultivation of Tahrir Square is meant to erase any evidence of the
uprising that took place there in 2011, which led to the end of president Hosni
Mubarak’s autocratic regime.

The unveiling of the newly
renovated square—the date of which is yet to be announced—will
coincide with the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum near the
pyramids and the newly restored synagogue at Alexandria.

The post Egyptian Tourism Officials Just Moved Four Ancient
Sphinxes to a Tahrir Square Roundabout—and Archaeologists Are
Horrified appeared first on artnet News.