Cairo (AFP)

Egypt, which seeks to rekindle interest in cultural tourism and Egyptology, is organizing a high-profile visit on Saturday to an ancient city more than 3,000 years old recently discovered in the south of the country after being buried for millennia.

The discovery, announced Thursday in a statement from the archaeological mission, will be shown to the press on Saturday by the famous archaeologist and former Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, who led the excavations.

"The archaeological mission (...) discovered a buried city (...) which dates from the reign of king Amenhotep III and which continued to be used by king Tutankhâmon, that is to say 3,000 years ago", affirms the communicated.

Quoted in the press release, Betsy Brian, professor of Egyptology at Johns Hopkins University, in the United States, considers that "the discovery of this lost city is the second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhâmon".

The news of this discovery was widely shared on social networks on Friday, with the few photos that the authorities were kind enough to release while waiting for Saturday.

It comes after several other archaeological announcements in recent years.

It also comes a few days after 22 floats carrying mummies of kings and queens of ancient Egypt passed through Cairo in a spectacular parade to reach the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), the new home of these royal remains. .

In January at Saqqara, a site which is about fifteen kilometers south of the famous pyramids of the Giza plateau, the authorities unveiled to the public new "treasures", including some fifty sarcophagi from the New Kingdom over 3,000 years old. years.

After years of political instability linked to the popular revolt of 2011, which dealt a heavy blow to tourism, Egypt is seeking to bring back visitors, in particular by promoting cultural tourism and in particular the sites of ancient Egypt. .

The new discovery is located on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor, places already rich in vestiges of Pharaonic Egypt such as the Valley of the Kings or the temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

-"In good condition"-

The images of the ancient city distilled by the authorities Thursday show in particular a network of brick walls dating, according to the statement, of king Amenhotep III.

Arrived on the throne in 1.391 BC, Amenhotep III died in -1.353.

Objects, including jewelry and pottery bearing his seal were discovered in the city, thus confirming the dating, it is specified.

With his usual enthusiasm, Mr. Hawass, quoted in the press release, called this "lost golden city" "the largest ancient city in Egypt".

Sometimes accused by his peers of being a megalomaniac businessman, and of lacking scientific rigor, Mr. Hawass responds by displaying his past archaeological discoveries, which he considers "major".

The mission began its excavations in September 2020 between the temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor, about 500 km south of Cairo.

"Within a few weeks, to the team's surprise, clay brick formations began to appear," the statement said.

And the site is "in a good state of preservation, with almost entire walls and rooms full of tools of daily life".

The discovery will make it possible in particular "to offer us a rare glimpse of the life of the ancient Egyptians during the most prosperous hours of the (New) Empire", according to Betsy Brian.

The city is made up of "three royal palaces (...) as well as the administrative and manufacturing center of the Empire".

But archaeologists have also unearthed a "food preparation area" with a "bakery", an "administrative district" and a construction "workshop".

Two burials of "cows or bulls" as well as an "unusual" human body were also discovered.

© 2021 AFP