The project to renovate the pyramids sparked controversy

For some, it is “Project of the Century”For others “an absurdity”: A new plan to renovate the Pyramid of Mycarinos, on the Giza plateau, is shaking up all of Egypt.

In a video released Friday, the head of Egyptian antiquities, Mustafa Waziri, shows workers setting granite blocks at the base of the Mycarinos pyramid, the lowest of Giza’s three pyramids. When it was built, the Pyramid of Mycarinos was covered with granite. Over time, it has lost part of its covering. The current project aims to restore this layer of granite to restore the pyramid to its original appearance. This “Renovation” will go “three years” and will be “Egypt’s Gift to the World in the 21st Century”The head of the Egyptian-Japanese mission in charge of the project welcomed Mr. Waziri, ensuring that he “will allow us to see, for the first time, the Pyramid of Mycarinos as it was built by the ancient Egyptians”.

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But, under the video, dozens of horrified critics lost their temper. “Impossible!”Responds, visibly outraged, Egyptologist Monica Hanna on Facebook. “All that was missing was tiling the pyramid of Mycarinos! When will we stop the absurdity in the management of Egyptian heritage?She writes again. “All international principles on renovation prohibit such interventions, all archaeologists must immediately mobilize”, she said. Online, internet users are all looking for their sharpest: “When will the project to straighten the tower of Pisa come?”One writes, in reference to the Italian monument precisely known as it is leaning. “Instead of tiles, why not wallpaper on the pyramid?”Ironically, another internet user suggests.

The question of heritage preservation in Egypt – a country that counts on tourism for 10% of its GDP and where the Great Pyramid of Giza, the only one of the Seven Wonders of Antiquity still visible today – is often raised. A topic of lively debate.

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The recent destruction of entire sections of historic Cairo has strongly mobilized a civil society almost barred from political activity, and much of the fight against the regime is now focused in the area of ​​town planning and heritage. In recent days, debate has focused on a 15th-century mosque in Alexandria in the north, the Abu al-Abbas al-Morsi Mosque. The governorate has just announced that it is launching an investigation after the contractor in charge of the renovation work decided to repaint the ornate, sculpted and colorful ceiling of Egypt’s second largest mosque in white.