24 - 30 May 2001
Issue No.535
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 May 2001 Issue No.535 |
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Dig days
The Sphinx cried twice
The Pyramids of Giza are sacred and divine. We come here to learn about history, about a great people and what they achieved. But when it comes to a pop concert performed in front of the Pyramids and the Sphinx, I call this destruction and site pollution.
A few years ago I said just this when I heard that an Egyptian who had made his home in New York was planning to bring well-known singers over to perform in front of the Sphinx. At that time, many people agreed with me, but others who worked in tourism argued that performances by famous singers would help promote Egypt abroad, and that the publicity it generated would stimulate tourism. It is my firm belief, however, that tourism is the greatest enemy of archaeology. Mass tourism causes damage to ancient monuments which have weathered thousands of years only to witness their greatest decay in the last century.
UNESCO has organised conferences in many countries to heighten awareness of what mass tourism can do to archaeological sites. It has been said that unless there are drastic changes, we can expect that many sites will have been irrevocably destroyed within 200 years
In 1977, when I was a young archaeologist, I attended a Grateful Dead concert staged in front of the Sphinx. A huge crowd of 10,000 young people were standing, shouting, screaming and drinking beer, and I even saw some foreigners smoking. The sound of their music was so loud that I could feel the stones of the pyramids vibrate and the delicate rock of the Sphinx shake.
I felt how sad the Sphinx must be that day, and how appalled that his descendants would violate his sacred precincts with such a cacophony. But the Sphinx kept silent, and only ten years later, when a big chunk of stone fell from his right shoulder, did the public become aware of the danger he was in. The world was shocked, and its press descended on Egypt to report on the tragedy.
Many experts argued that it was the water table and rain which caused this damage, but I knew the truth: the Sphinx was suffering from what we were doing to him. Residents of Nezlet El-Simaan had built their houses a mere fifteen metres away from him; water and sewage were seeping into the bedrock and infiltrating his body. An antiquities director, now retired, had given permission for some amateurs from nowhere to knock on the Sphinx's body, and for the Grateful Dead to give a concert at his very feet.
We never learn. Two decades later, a letter fell on my desk asking for permission for Sting to sing in front of the Sphinx. We sent a letter to the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Gaballa A Gaballa, and we said No, and gave our reasons. Our opinion was respected. But when the organiser of the show couldn't get permission for the performance on archaeologically protected land, he decided to hold it in front of the Sound and Light Theatre, which belongs to the Sound and Light Company. The organiser sold 15,000 tickets before it became clear that the theatre, filled to capacity, could hold only 3,000 spectators. The overflow, the concert organisers decided, would have to be accommodated on the area north of the Sound and Light building, which, needless to say, is land belonging to the antiquities department.
The Egyptian Tourist Authority wanted the concert; the Egyptian antiquities authorities refused. A few hours before the scheduled opening the latter were obliged to give way.
About 15,000, most of them young people in their teens and twenties, packed the area. Many could not even enter the plateau because it was so crowded, and there was no crowd control. Sting started to sing, and the vibration of the music echoing from the gigantic speakers shook the ground. The spectators jumped around in time with the music; the sound reverberated and every stone of the pyramids, not to mention the Sphinx, suffered. At midnight, Marwa Naeem, one of my students, called me and said, "Dr Zahi, you taught us to preserve the monuments, and I cannot understand how you gave permission for this." I was glad to hear that just then the concert finished.
I did not go. I have not forgotten that first scene, two decades ago, when this magical site was transformed into an anthropoid zoo. I had no desire to repeat the experience.
The next day, I went to the Sphinx and walked around to see if anything had befallen the statue. I searched his face for anger; I was afraid that what happened in 1988 could happen again, that another large section of the ancient monument could fall down.
I do not object to antiquities sites being used for cultural performances, such as Aida, which is in keeping with the dignity of this sacred site. Certainly the audience of such performances are easier to manage than the crowds at a pop concert. However, what is done is done; but we should think carefully before we ever allow something like this to happen again. I don't want to hear the Sphinx crying again. I hope that this time he will forgive us. Meanwhile, we have found another site for rock performances and the like, west of the pyramids. The Sphinx can sleep in peace.
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