(Photo handout from ministry of antiquities)
As a touristic country, Egypt‘s antiquities attract much attention and care from tourists all around the world. The secret of how the pyramids and other ancient places were built remains a mystery, and the workmanship of the drawings on the walls is still breathtaking, even after centuries.
Last Monday, with the continuous attempts of reviving tourism, Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Al-Damatty reopened two tombs at the western cemetery in the Pyramids Archaeological Area, to receive visitors.
The tombs were discovered in 1925 but were closed in 2007 for restoration work.
“They were supposed to be reopened earlier but the events of the 25 January Revolution postponed the opening,” said Kamal Waheed, head of Cairo and Giza Antiquities central department. The restoration project was restarted only six months ago by the Ministry of Antiquities’ project sector.
The tombs were built in the typical form of the Old Kingdom, and they reflect the nature of ritual life at that time clearly represented through their structural and artistic elements.
(Photo handout from ministry of antiquities)
One of the tombs holds the name “Emery”, whose title was “Priest of King Khufu”, while the other tomb belongs to his eldest son Nefer Ptah.
Nefer Ptah’s tomb consists of five rooms and a crypt at the southern side. It also contains a life sized rock statue in the wall of its first hall, according to Mahmoud Afifi, Chargéd’affaires of the Ancient Egyptian Sector’s Chief.
The tomb of “Emery” is built with lime stone and it contains beautiful scenes depicting craftsmen (carpenters, sculptors and goldsmiths).
