Telescopic view of a pharaoh's boat

By Nevine El-Aref

Visitors to the solar boat museum will soon be able to view Khufu's second funeral boat through a small hole in the ground photo: Mohamed Wassim

It was only when it was realised that the rocky grave in which it lay was not hermetically sealed and that the wood was deteriorating that steps were taken to rectify the situation.

In collaboration with Wasida University of Japan, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) last year initiated a long-term project for the restoration of all decaying wooden parts, said Zahi Hawass, director of the Giza plateau. He added that the humidity inside was controlled, all cracks sealed and a protective wooden structure built to cover the site and protect it from environmental hazards.

A second stage of the project, which started in early September and is expected to take two months, involves the installation of a small telescope in its protective ceiling and the display of the image on television screens in the museum housing Khufu's first reconstructed barge.

The telescope will be inserted in the cavity used in 1987 by a team of international scientists from the National Geographic. The scientists had explored the second pit with the aim of extracting a sample of ancient Egypt's air to compare it with present-day environmental conditions.

A hole drilled into one of the blocks was subsequently sealed with an air-lock system especially designed to prevent the exchange of inside and outside air. It is this hole that will be used for the telescopic image.

"The telescope will provide visitors with a unique opportunity to look into the tomb chamber and see what is believed to be the solar barge intended to carry the spirit of the deceased king to the afterlife," said Hawass. "Entrance to the museum, where the telescopic view of the buried boat will be available, will be in the region of $10 per person," he added.

In the third and longest phase of the project, the first boat will be dismantled and its wooden parts reconserved, Hawass said. It will later be transferred to a new museum at the beginning of the Cairo-Fayoum road that will be constructed specifically for the display of Khufu's solar boats.

The second unexcavated boat will eventually be unearthed, treated and reconstructed before being transferred to the new museum.

The museum will be specially designed for the chosen site to convey to visitors the impression that the boats are still underground, Hawass said.

SCA Secretary-General Gaballa Ali Gaballa said the LE60 million project is financed by a Japanese grant that also covers the cost of museum equipment as well as the installation of new lighting and security systems. "This is not an easy project and it requires time and care," he said.