CAIRO – The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) welcomed King Khufu’s boat in a mournful procession at dawn on Saturday, 48 hours after it began its relocation from its current display.
The boat, which was more than four centuries old, was kept in a unique museum on the Giza Plateau, on the southern side of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.
For the transit of the boat, streets and bridges overlooking the GEM, as well as archaeological and engineering equipment, were prepared.
To transfer the boat without destroying it, a clever remote-controlled cart was specifically brought in from Belgium.
It took about 10 hours to get the 8 kilometers from the ferry to the GEM.
The yacht will be placed in a 1,400-square-meter area in the GEM’s exterior courtyard.
GEM chief supervisor Atef Moftah described the boat transfer as “one of the most important, complex, and unique archaeological engineering operations,” emphasizing that the task force did not take any chances.
“It is the culmination of nearly a year of effort, study, planning, preparation, and serious work,” he noted, emphasizing that the procedure was carried out with remarkable precision.
He said that the customized truck that was transporting the boat could overcome any road barriers, navigating through tight curves and absorbing any vibrations.
According to the Antiquities Protection Law, the process was accepted by the Permanent Committee of Egyptian Antiquities, according to Mostafa Waziri, the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).
According to Al-Tayeb Abbas, assistant minister of tourism and antiquities, a radar scan of the rocky ground was undertaken before the transfer to confirm its ability to sustain the weight.
He claimed that a prestigious team of restorers from the GEM used a laser scanner to document the boat’s most precise characteristics and prepare it for shipping.
On May 26, 1954, archaeologist engineer Kamal Al-Malakh announced the discovery of two trenches on the southern side of the Great Pyramid for King Khufu’s sun boats.
The solar boat, as it was dubbed in the media, was made of cedar wood imported from Lebanon.
Many people believe the boat was built for the monarch to use on his daily journeys with the sun god Ra, while others believe it was used to convey the king’s body from the eastern side of the Nile to the western bank, where he was buried.
The museum that housed the boat lacked the necessary equipment to maintain the wooden item, and the organic structure began to rot. The boat’s relocation to a new location was critical.
Like the movement of the Ramses II colossus from Ramses Square to the GEM, moving the 42-meter-long, 20-ton boat in one piece was the only viable option.
The GEM and SCA work teams used the remote-controlled car to conduct three simulations in preparation for the handover.
The boat was then protected by being stuffed with special scientific foam and placed inside an iron cage.
