Image Credit: Google Doodle 26MAY19 Modified
On this day in 1954, archaeologist, Egyptologist, and engineer Kamal al-Malakh and his team discovered the first Khufu Solar Ship in a pit near the base of the southern edge of the Great Pyramid.
Initially, a brick restoration shed was constructed between the pyramid and the boat pit to facilitate sorting and storage of the 1,224 components of the project. The chief restorer, Hag Ahmed Youssef Moustafa, and his select staff would assemble-disassemble-reassemble Khufu’ ship five times beginning in November of 1957, until the final completion inside the boat museum between 1970-1971. The process was performed over a span of thirteen to fourteen years.
The current activities of preparing Khufu I for dismantlement, preservation, and transportation to the Grand Egyptian Museum, where a separate museum building has been constructed to house the ship, are presently underway.
A bonus awaits future visitors to the Giza Pyramids site; the mid-eighties Solar Boat Museum will be deconstructed and removed to reestablish the previous archaeological area views about the plateau.
Dr. Troglodyte