{"id":367737,"date":"2025-12-24T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/367737\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T15:44:08","slug":"ancient-egyptian-pharaohs-boat-is-being-restored-at-record-breaking-museum-one-of-the-most-important-restoration-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/367737\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Egyptian pharaoh\u2019s boat is being restored at record-breaking museum: ‘One of the most important restoration projects’"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAIRO (AP) \u2014 A boat belonging to an Egyptian pharaoh<\/a> is being assembled in full view at\u00a0the Grand Egyptian Museum\u2019s exhibition hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Staff began piecing together the cedarwood boat, one of two that were found that belong to King Khufu, Tuesday morning as dozens of visitors watched.<\/p>\n

The assembly of the 42-meter (137-foot) -long vessel, which sits next to its already-assembled twin that has been on display, is expected to take around four years, according to Issa Zeidan, head of restoration at the Grand Egyptian Museum. It contains 1,650 wooden pieces.<\/p>\n

Workers and media gather around King Khufu\u2019s second solar boat at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), near the Giza Pyramid Complex, in Giza, Egypt, on Dec. 23, 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Workers install planks of King Khufu\u2019s second boat at its permanent display site in the Khufu Boats Museum within GEM. MOHAMED HOSSAM\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

This photo taken on May 3, 2022 shows a view of the only known ivory statuette of the Ancient Egyptian Old Kingdom King Khufu (2609-2584 BC), builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

King Khufu ruled ancient Egypt<\/a> more than 4,500 years ago and built the Great Pyramid of Giza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re witnessing today one of the most important restoration projects in the 21st century,\u201d said Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy, who attended the event.<\/p>\n

The $1 billion museum, also known as GEM, was touted as the world\u2019s largest<\/a> when it was lavishly inaugurated last month. <\/p>\n

Archeologists measure an ancient wooden block as they prepare to reassemble the second solar boat of King Khufu. AP<\/p>\n

The boat contains 1,650 wooden pieces. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Tourists ride camels near the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) at the Giza Pyramids Necropolis on the outskirts of Giza on May 3, 2024. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s home to\u00a0nearly 50,000 artifacts<\/a>, including the collection of treasures from the tomb of the famed King Tutankhamun<\/a>, which was discovered in 1922. <\/p>\n

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The museum, located near the pyramids at the edge of Cairo, is expected to boost Egypt\u2019s tourism revenues<\/a> and help bolster its\u00a0ailing economy.<\/a><\/p>\n

The boat was one of two discovered in 1954, opposite the southern side of the Great Pyramid. <\/p>\n

The excavation of its wooden parts began in 2014, according to the museum\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

The exact purpose of the boats remains unclear, but experts believe they were either used to transport King Khufu\u2019s body during his funeral or were meant to be used for his afterlife journey with the sun god Ra, according to the museum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO (AP) \u2014 A boat belonging to an Egyptian pharaoh is being assembled in full view at\u00a0the Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[56327,4,450,28970,451,473,6049,3,452,453,965],"class_list":["post-367737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-boats","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-egypt","tag-headlines","tag-history","tag-museums","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}