René O'Deay gBlog

Al-Ahram Weekly | Heritage | Don't sink the boat: 1 - 7 March 2007, Issue No. 834

"Ever since its discovery in 1954, the magnificent 4,600-year-old wooden funerary barge of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid, has been kept in poorly managed conditions. Its progressive deterioration has been calamitous."

Hani Hanna, chair of the International Conference on Heritage of the Naqada and Qus region, Egypt 2007. said, the museum's environment and the visiting procedures continue to cause both direct and indirect damage to the wood of the boat.

"In addition to the direct damage that may result from environmental factors and visiting procedures, indirect damage is still taking place as a result of the degree of variation they cause in humidity, temperature, light and pollution levels, which in turn increases the risks of detrimental impact to the structure of the boat."

"It's important to set up a scientific committee to study the report presented here in order to determine what further investigations may be required, or what modifications need to be made to it, before a comprehensive plan is drawn up prior to the implementation of a supervised programme of restoration and conservation," Hanna adds.

"Committees take time to do their business, and while the experts talk, the boat continues to deteriorate. How long, Al-Ahram Weekly asks, before decisions and active steps are taken to save the boat which was extracted from the bedrock a century ago?"

Sad to think, that this Boat of a Million Years began to deteriorate as soon as it came to light, and has continued to do so ever since the Boat museum was built, inspite of modifications to prevent it.

Another Project that needs funding.