The transfer of four ram statues from the monumental town of Luxor to Tahrir Square to decorate downtown Cairo has caused controversy in Egypt. In addition, an NGO filed a complaint for the government to revoke this controversial decision.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the Egyptian Prime Minister and the Minister of Tourism to cancel the transfer of the famous statues with the body of a sphinx and the head of a ram.
In a statement published online, the NGO called the authorities’ decision “negative”, as have some archaeologists and netizens on social networks, raising an uproar online.
The NGO’s lawyers argued in their complaint that there is a risk to the archaeological pieces “that are not valued with money” and also their transfer “contravenes the nature of the archaeological monument” from which they come in Luxor.
They also requested that “a public competition be organized for the design of copies of the pieces” to replace the originals, which can be exposed to damage from traffic and pollution in the Egyptian capital.
The statues had remained until their trip to the Egyptian capital in the first courtyard of the temple of Karnak, the great sanctuary of the god Amun built for more than two millennia by a succession of pharaohs who always sought to leave their mark on its monumental enclosure.
The complex and its immense universe of pylons, statues, and courtyards are in present-day Luxor, about 372 miles south of Cairo. All the architectural jewels of the city have been on the UNESCO world heritage list since 1979.
Khaled el Anani, Minister of Antiquities and Tourism of the Arab country said:
“When we go to European capitals like Rome, Paris or London and Washington we see that they use Egyptian obelisks to decorate their main tourist squares, why can’t we do the same?”.
It doesn’t think like this issue is going to go away any time soon…
