Visitors will once again be able to admire the pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara, south of Cairo. The 4,700-year-old building reopened to the public on Thursday March 5 after several years of renovation.

"We are reopening today, after its restoration, the oldest pyramid still standing in Egypt", declared, during a ceremony Thursday at the foot of the famous step pyramid, the Minister of Antiquities and Tourism, Khaled el- Enany. It is also the "first stone-built building in the world", according to the minister.

About 60 meters high and six stories high, this monument was built around 2,700 BC by the famous architect Imhotep, above a 28-meter deep cavity housing a pink granite tomb.

The renovation project of this monument had started in 2006 before being interrupted "for security reasons" related to the popular revolt of 2011. It had resumed in 2013, according to Ayman Gamal Eddine, responsible for the project at the Ministry of Antiquities.

The total cost of the restoration works is 104 million Egyptian pounds, or six million euros, according to the Egyptian government.

The work was made necessary after an earthquake damaged the interior of the pyramid considerably in 1992.

The site, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, is the first family necropolis in Egypt, a practice introduced by the pharaoh Djoser.

Attract tourists

On this same necropolis of Saqqara, the Egyptian authorities had unveiled in April 2019 a tomb decorated with colored reliefs and well-preserved inscriptions, belonging to a nobleman from the 5th dynasty (between 2,500 and 2,300 BC) .

In recent years, the authorities have considerably strengthened their communication around archaeological finds in the hope of once again attracting tourists who have deserted Egypt due to the unrest linked to the 2011 revolt.

Archaeological sites are a major argument for Egypt in the face of competition from other tourist destinations and, in this context, Khaled el-Enany, Minister of Antiquities since 2016, also obtained the Tourism portfolio last December.

"We are working hard to build a new Egypt (...) and the restoration of our heritage is at the top of our priorities," stressed Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli, present at the ceremony on Thursday, recalling the many gigantic projects launched by his government.

Among them is the construction of the new administrative capital and the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), both supposed to be inaugurated at the end of 2020.

With AFP

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