Another Discovery in Saqqara & the Avenue of the Sphinxes opens
Egypt to open 2,700 meter Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor before year end and announce new a archaeological discovery in September.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Anani said Egypt was supposed to have announced a huge archaeological discovery in May. The upcoming announcement of the archaeological discovery will be bigger than the discovery announced last November in Saqqara.
Before the end of the year, Egypt will also be opening the 2,700-metre-long Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor, that connects the Karnak and Luxor temples in the east of Luxor. El-Anani noted that the avenue’s opening will be Egypt’s next parade.
He also announced that Egypt will reopen the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria by the end of the year. The museum is one of the biggest and oldest museums devoted to Egypt’s Greco-Roman collection.
El-Anani declared that the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza will also be ready to open by the end of the year.
El-Anani added that determining the date of the opening ceremony will be related to the global health situation, rather than just Egypt, and that it will be chosen according to the most appropriate time for everyone. “There is a difference between the ceremony and the opening, as the ceremony will be huge and attended by Heads of State from around the world, celebrities, and the like,” El-Anani said, adding, “I have had a meeting with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who has given his directives that we have to work very fast for the museum to be ready.”
He added that his ministry will continue moving artifacts to the GEM in preparation for its opening. A total of 95% of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s collection has already been moved to its new location in the GEM, a special section devoted entirely to the Boy Pharaoh- the Tut section of the GEM alone is larger than the the entire old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo!
The 5% of Tut's artifacts that remain in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square will be moved to GEM just a few days before the new museum’s official opening.
Al-Anani confirmed that during the next few days, the vaccination of workers in the tourism sector in the governorates of South Sinai and the Red Sea will be done, and the vaccination of tourism sector workers will begin in Cairo, Giza, Luxor and Aswan.
General Supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum project and the surrounding area Atef Moftah revealed the first Khufu Solar Ship, located on the southern side of the Pyramid of Cheops, will be transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum in June 2021.
Comments
What year?
My wife used that same trick when we moved to Tucson. She had always worked in Seattle, prior to moving to Tucson. When we got to Tucson we agreed that she would look for work 'next year'. She would spend 'this year' monitoring the house we were having built. Well guess what, you never get to 'next year'. I know Happy Wife, Happy Life!
Sam I'm in your wife's camp. When we moved back to NM I fully intended to go back to work after taking a couple of college refresher classes. Waiting for them to be scheduled, we diy remodeled the kitchen, my sewing room and lots of painting. Following year ( still waiting on UNM's schedule) I played general contractor for a major remodel. By the time it was over I'd figured out UNM had done away with the classes I needed and worse yet, any desire to go back in the office environment had gone away. Fortunately financially it wasn't needed. No regrets.
Just keeping everyone informed and part of my never ending quest to find good news about Jordan & Egypt, not to mention an attempt to fill the 286 days
until we go! It is good to hear El Anany make a distinction between the opening and formal "opening ceremonies." Hopefully it will open sooner than later. Despite El-Anany's comment about about choosing the most appropriate time for everyone, they will need to decide, months in advance (soon?), on a date for the opening ceremonies - a lot of planning will be required to accommodate and provide security for the world leaders and other dignitaries they plan to invite. I suspect the pressure to open the GEM has really increased lately- first Egypt needs the tourist dollars and now that many countries in Europe and elsewhere are opening- it is a national prided issue.
I retired (quit working) younger than many and had no interest in going back to the grind (Pentagon, 3 letter agencies, and beltway bandits.) I am a hobby woodworker but I got heavily involved in building, photographing, and writing articles about woodworking projects for the major woodworking magazines. Since I hadn't established a rep and was a "no name," not a Norm Abram, Roy Underhill, etc., it was a lot of work for very modest reward. Unless you build two of everything, like Norm, photographing a project really slows down the build, especially if you must send photos to your editor for approval. What started out as fun became too much like work. That effort faded quickly after I designed and licensed two woodworking accessories that are still being sold and earn me modest royalties. I don't build XMAS presents- I don't like the deadline and the stress- however upon special request and no deadlines, I occasionally build furniture for our grand kids. I still occasionally do major work on our house. Now, I build whatever, whenever, though haven't done much of that lately either.
At some point in your life - usually the mid point - you come to realize there is a value to your time and how to spend it. I'll take comfortable and able to travel over wealthy and too busy working to enjoy the money.
A huge difference we found when we moved to the US was that people don’t seem to want to retire or even take the vacation they are owed. Women in the UK retired at 60 back then and men at 65. Nurses could retire at 55. Most people got far more than the two weeks vacation that Americans seem to get. Many people retire early, some with Golden handshakes. Many of my husband’s former colleagues there retired in their fifties. Of course you don’t have to worry about healthcare and medicines are free when you are over 65. Company pension plans are better and often increase with inflation. That is partly why when you meet Brits abroad, they have often traveled a great deal. Vacations have a high priority for all levels of income. I can remember my husband here telling people who worked with him to take their vacation time, you come back refreshed! We traveled whenever we could or afford it. Our children came with us, we didn’t leave them at home with Grandma which is what we will be doing twice this summer for our two children. For example, When we went to Japan, they came with us, the second time they could not come as it was a school time and a business trip that I got to go along on. What an incredible experience for them.
My husband was going to retire at 65. However, when we took the Tauck Botswana tour, everyone on the tour was retired but him, the tour was great, we wanted to travel more…so he retired at 64 1/2. That first year, we took six tours in the space of a year. We are so glad we did, with this continuing Pandemic, we will have two years to catch up on.
Having had to give up my dream job In England, one of the reasons I did not look for work here was only getting zero to two weeks vacations a year, no point earning money if you can’t enjoy it if travel is one of your hobbies
So we have two mottos …..we are skiing….Spending the Kids Inheritance and…..May your last check bounce! No, no, we keep adding to those 529’s etc.
Seeing the restored avenue of the sphinxes will be great. When we visited Luxor several years ago, only a few hundred yards had been restored. The rest was just a trace. Looking forward to this October 2022!
I'm curious about the new "huge archaeological discovery" in Saqqara. Can it be more than another stash of wood sarcophagi w/mummies or a newly discovered, highly decorated tomb/mastaba of a noble or senior official, unless what makes it "huge" is who was buried there? The tombs and mummies of more than a few of the biggies still have not been located. Not too long ago they found the tomb of Queen Neit, a previously unknown third wife of King Teti of the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. It was reported in the press Jan - April, but maybe not at the level of detail to come? There is still a lot of digging ongoing in Saqqara.
We plan to stay an extra day so I am contemplating hiring a guide and go back to Saqqara and nearby Dashur to visit what we don't see on the tour- possibly enter the stepped pyramid of Djoser (the Pyramid of Djoser, Red Pyramid, and Bent Pyramid are all now open) and the Serapeum, tomb complex of the Serapis bulls. Anyone else contemplating such an excursion and have ideas or suggestions?
Another item to whet your whistle- it is an unabashed promo, heavy on Zahi Hawass and is narrated in Arabic (with English subtitles), but the video at this link has some recent shots of the GEM I have never seen before, including the "hanging obelisk."