- Title: EGYPT: RESTORATION WORK ON THE PYRAMID OF KHAFRE (CHEFREN) FINISHES
- Date: 8th July 2000
- Summary: GIZA PLATEAU, EGYPT (RECENT) (REUTERS) 1. LAS EXTERIOR CHEFREN PYRAMID 0.06 2. SLV ENTRANCE TO CHEFREN PYRAMID; TS STAIRCASES LEADING TO PYRAMID CHAMBERS (2 SHOTS) 0.19 3. TS ROOMS INSIDE CHEFERN PYRAMID 0.28 4. SLV PAN CORRIDOR LEADING TO MAIN CHAMBER; CORRIDOR AND MAIN CHAMBER; MAIN CHAMBER WITH SARCOPHAGUS; SCU PAN SARCOPHAGUS (2 SHOTS) 0.57 5. SLV MAN POINTINGAT CEILINGA AND WALLS AFTER RESTORATION 1.03 6. LAS CRACKS WHICH HAVE BEEN RESTORED 1.08 7. CU CRACKS 1.13 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GIZA PLATEAU DIRECTOR ZAHI HAWASS SAYING: "We have just finished the restorations of the second pyramid of Chefren, we stayed almost one year closing the second pyramid as we did important work like removing salts that was left on the galleries of the second pyramid because of visitors who enter inside the pyramid and gives around twenty grammes of water, and this water becomes salt inside the pyramid and also this increases the humidity inside and this why we had to remove mechanically all the salt from the pyramid and also we restored the cracks." 1.52 9. SLV MEN RIDING CAMEL PAST TOURISTS AT CHEFREN PYRAMID 1.59 10. SLV PAN CHEFREN PYRAMID 2.10 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd July 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GIZA, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Reuters ID: LVADR2JSL0SZ7FDNRG1R9FUPVPWB
- Story Text: Egypt's second biggest pyramid will reopen soon
following a year-long facelift that involved scraping salt,
lipstick and graffiti off its inner walls.
Zahi Hawass, director of the Giza plateau where
Egypt's three great pyramids sit, said restoration work on the
4,500-year-old pyramid of Khafre (Chefren) had just finished
and tourists would be treated to a more impressive display.
Cracks were patched up using sand, water and rock chalk,
the same building materials used by the ancient Egyptians. A
few areas were deliberately left to show the extent of
restoration work elsewhere.
Cameras will now monitor tourists to catch graffiti
artists and visitors leaving lipstick kisses and marks.
Salt deposits resulted from the water in the breath of
visitors, each produces about 20 grammes (two-thirds of an
ounce).
Hawass said a new ventilation system had been installed to
reduce humidity and improve the air quality for visitors to
the 136-metre (yard) high monument.
The pyramid of Menkaure (Mycerinus), the smallest of the
three great pyramids, is next in line for temporary closure
under a restoration scheme begun in 1998.
Ahead of the reopening of the Chefren pyramid, Hawass said
a limit would be placed on the number of visitors, as when the
great pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) reopened after restoration.
Khufus pyramid had previously prompted safety concerns
when it attracted more than 4,000 visitors a day.
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