Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP 8:31 p.m., March 6, 2024

An archaeological mission, carried out jointly between the Egyptian Supreme Council of Archeology and the University of Colorado, made it possible to get their hands on the upper part of a statue of Ramesses II.

The lower part was discovered by a German archaeologist in 1930.

The complete and complete statue will soon be able to see the light of day.

As spotted by

Le Parisien

, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Tuesday March 5 that the upper part of an immense statue of Pharaoh Ramses II had been discovered during an archaeological mission carried out jointly. between the Egyptian Supreme Council of Archeology and the University of Colorado.

Mustafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Archaeology, specifies that this fragment will complete a work discovered by the German archaeologist Günther Roeder in 1930. The team of archaeologists is now working to clean this upper part with a view to its study and modeling of the complete statue.

It represents the seated pharaoh wearing a crown topped with a headdress on which is a royal cobra. 

A 7 meter high statue

Adel Akasha, the head of Egypt's Central Directorate of Archaeology, adds that this mission was initially intended to explore the religious center of the city of Hermopolis Magna, located along the Nile in the center of the country.

A place where a number of temples stand, including that of Ramses II.

The discovery of the missing part of the statue of the pharaoh demonstrates the importance of this site, according to Adel Akasha.

With this missing piece, 3.8 meters high, the statue will measure approximately 7 meters. 

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During his immense reign of 66 years (from 1279 to 1213 BCE), Ramses II had an incalculable number of statues and monuments built to the glory of ancient Egypt, including the temple of Abu Simbel and the grave of his wife, Queen Nefertari.

Often presented as the symbol of a powerful and prosperous Egypt, he was also an outstanding warrior, working tirelessly for the security of his country.

He also has at least 11 wives and more than 110 children.

An exhibition was recently dedicated to him at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris.

With more than 800,000 visitors, it however does less well than that dedicated to Tutankhamun which attracted 1.42 million curious people in 2019.