Antiquities: 31 wooden pieces of Khufu's second boat moved to Grand Egyptian Museum

The Grand Egyptian Museum on Wednesday received 31 wooden pieces of the second boat of ancient Egyptian King Khufu, bringing the total of the wooden pieces transported so far to 337 the number of pieces that have been documented, restored and recorded in the contents list of the new Egyptian museum.

In statements on Wednesday, Director of Restoration Department at GEM Issa Zeidan said an Egyptian-Japanese team has so far lifted 50 percent of the total number of wooden pieces of the antique boat.

He said the restoration of Khufu boat has been carried out with the application of the modern technologies and according to the set schedule and the whole restoration would be completed in 2017.

Built in the shadow of the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Khufu Boat Museum houses the largest royal vessel ever found in Egypt. Discovered in 1954, this boat had been dismantled in ancient times and placed in a pit to the south of the pyramid. The second boat still lies in a similar pit directly to the west of the first pit and it is currently being restored as part of a cooperation project between Egypt and Japan and will be displayed in the GEM upon its inauguration.