Impressive archaeological discovery in Egypt: a colossal statue of the Pharaoh Ramses II is brought to light

Archaeologists from Egypt and Germany have made a stunning and unexpected discovery in a Cairo slum: a massive eight-metre statue submerged in groundwater and mud.

According to reports by Reuters, the statue is believed to depict Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt over 3,000 years ago.

The find, celebrated by the Antiquities Ministry as one of the most significant yet, was made near the ruins of Ramses II’s temple in ancient Heliopolis, located in eastern Cairo.

“Last Tuesday, I received a call announcing the major discovery of a colossus of the king, likely Ramses II, made of quartzite,” said Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani from the site of the statue’s unveiling.

The formidable ruler known as the Great Ramses, the third of the 19th dynasty, is considered by many as one of Egypt’s most iconic historical figures.

“We first discovered the torso of the statue and the lower part of the head, and now we have unearthed the crown, the right ear, and a fragment of the right eye,” Anani explained.

Last Thursday, a crowd of archaeologists, officials, local residents, and media representatives gathered at the site to witness the statue’s head being extracted from the water.

The same archaeological team also discovered the upper part of a limestone statue of Pharaoh Seti II, the grandson of Ramses II. Although life-size, the surviving part of this statue is only 80 centimeters long.

The Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, founded by Ramses II, makes it highly plausible that the colossus depicts the pharaoh. The temple was one of the largest in ancient Egypt, nearly twice the size of Karnak, but it was destroyed during the Greco-Roman period. Many of its obelisks were transported to Alexandria or Europe, while the boulders were later used in construction as Cairo expanded.

Archaeologists will now endeavour to recover the remaining parts of the statues. If successful, and if it is officially confirmed that the colossus represents Ramses II, it will be relocated to the entrance of the Grand Egyptian Museum, set to open in 2018.

The discovery was made in the Matariya district, amidst half-demolished buildings and muddy streets. Dietrich Raue, head of the German team’s expedition, told Reuters that the ancient Egyptians believed Heliopolis was the dwelling place of the Sun God, hence it was forbidden to construct royal residences there.

“The Sun God created the world in Heliopolis, of Matariya. That’s what I always tell people here when they ask if there is anything significant. According to Pharaonic beliefs, the world was created in Matariya,” Raue says, adding: “That means everything had to be built here. Statues, temples, obelisks, everything. But… “The king never resided in Matariya, as this was the dwelling of the Sun God.”

This discovery could potentially be a blessing for Egypt’s tourism industry, which has experienced numerous difficulties since the 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. Despite these setbacks, tourism remains a significant source of foreign income for the country.

The number of tourists visiting Egypt dropped to 9.8 million in 2011, down from over 14.7 million in 2010. The situation worsened after a bombing incident in October 2015, which led to the crash of a Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers. This tragedy resulted in a further decline in tourist arrivals, which fell to 1.2 million in the first quarter of 2016 from 2.2 million in the previous year.