Subj: Fw: "EGYPT MAY BAR PYRAMID SHOW" (The Sunday Times 5 December)
Date: 12/5/99 9:16:56 AM Pacific Standard Time

Gentlemen,

You KNEW this was coming, didn't you.

Excalibur

----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 1999 8:49 AM
Subject: "EGYPT MAY BAR PYRAMID SHOW" (The Sunday Times 5 December)


> Following hot on the heels of the Al-Ahram article, "CROWNING THE
PYRAMID",
> the Sunday Times reports that the Egyptian authorities may cancel the
capping
> ceremony if it is not approved by a scientific committee. No mention here
of
> Masonic symbolism more a case of archaeologists disputing whether or not
the
> pyramid capstone "had a golden surface".
>
> "EGYPT MAY BAR PYRAMID SHOW"
>
> The Egyptian government may block plans to lower a golden apex onto the
Great
> Pyramid of Cheops for a lavish millennium eve celebration featuring the
> French musician Jean-Michel Jaree, writes Nick Fielding.
>
> Amid growing opposition from archaeologists and politicians, Farouk Hosny,
> the culture minister, said last week the he would not allow a gold-coated
> capstone to be installed on the pyramid unless a scientific committee
> approved it. Even then, the 27ft-high stone weighing a ton, would have to
be
> lifted into place rather than lowered by helicopter.
>
> Under a plan unveiled by the government in April, the capstone would be
> placed on the tip of Khufu's pyramid, as it is known to Egyptologists, at
> midnight, the high point of a music and laser show devised by Jarre that
will
> run from sunset on December 31 until the following dawn.
>
> The organisers of the show, entitled Twelve Dreams of the Sun, expect it
to
> attract up to 50,000 people. Supporters say it is more than just
> entertainment: they claim ancient inscriptions suggest that by giving the
> pyramid a gold tip they would be restoring it to its original glory.
>
> "My interpretation of the inscriptions is that, when the ancient Egyptians
> finished building the pyramid, the king and government officials cased a
> capstone with gold and placed it on the top", said Dr Zahi Hawass,
> under-secretary of state for the Giza monuments.
>
> Critics disagree. "We know that Khufu's father built the first true
pyramid.
> Its capstone was found some years ago by archaeologists and there is no
> indication that it had a golden surface," said Ali Radwan, Egyptology
> professor at Cairo University.
> (The Sunday Times 5 December, 1999)
>
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