Cairo’s Egyptian Museum completes restoration, relocation of Ramesses II basalt stele

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo completed restoration work on a stele of Ramesses II, Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced in a statement last month.

Ramesses II, known also as Ramesses the Great, is believed by many to have been the pharaoh in the biblical story of the Exodus.

Made of black basalt and measuring approximately 240 cm in length and 110 cm in width, the stele dates back to ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom (circa 1570 to circa 1069 BCE). It has been on display at the museum for over a century.

The basalt stele had originally been found in two separate pieces, explained Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Dr. Hisham El-Leithy, and had previously undergone restoration work to join the two fragments together.

Dr. Ali Abdel Halim, the museum’s director-general, noted that the stele was relocated and restored as part of the museum’s new display plan. It now stands between two other stelae depicting Ramses II.

Museum rejects claims of cement being used in stele’s restoration

He added that as part of the current restoration and relocation, the materials used during the stele’s previous restoration, as well as the wooden panel supporting the artifact, were removed.

The museum’s restoration team treated the joints holding the two together, and it was placed into a free-standing display with new panoramic lighting to highlight the stele’s details.

Further, Halim rejected claims of cement being used during the stele’s restoration that have been circulating on social media and clarified that cement had not been used at any point during the conservation work.

The photos online, he said, were taken while the restoration work was ongoing, and therefore “do not reflect its final condition” now that the work has been completed.

Ramesses II inscription in Sinai points to Egypt’s lost city of Mesn

More recently, excavations to uncover the historic Way of Horus military route, which leads from Egypt into ancient Canaan, archaeologists discovered a large, inscribed sandstone lintel broken into two pieces.

The lintel was found at the Tell Abu Saifi archaeological site, located in the city of Qantara East, in Egypt’s Ismailia Governorate along its eastern border with the Sinai.

Inscribed on three sides of the lintel are the titles of Ramesses II (“Ramesses the Great”), who is believed by many to have been the pharaoh in the biblical story of the Exodus.

But it is the second inscription that caught archaeologists’ eye: a reference to restoration work being carried out on a statue belonging to the deity “Horus, Lord of the City of Mesn.”

Dr. Hisham Hussein, head of the Central Administration for Lower Egypt and Sinai and director of the archaeological mission, said that the inscription represents “highly significant evidence” in studying the identity of the site.

However, Leithy noted that while the newfound is significant, further excavations and research are underway in attempt to uncover additional evidence to conclusively determine the matter.