Cairo bids joyous farewell to giant Ramses statue

The massive statue of Ramses II passes close to the great pyramids in Giza during the end of its journey from the polluted city to a spot near the Pyramids and closer to its original site yesterday. After years of controversy, the high-risk operation to move the 100-tonne, 11-metre (36 feet) high pink granite statue in one piece finally got underway at its scheduled time. PHOTO: AFP

"Ramses should be happy. He would have cursed us from his tomb if we hadn't got his statue out of this unimaginable chaos of pollution and ugliness," Egypt antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told AFP after the statue completed its odyssey.

After years of controversy and logistical headaches, the high-risk operation to move the 100-tonne, 11-metre (36 foot) high pink granite statue in one piece finally got underway at its scheduled time of 1:00 am.

The statue -- mounted on a huge mobile base and towed by a massive truck -- took 10 hours to complete its 35-kilometre (21 mile) journey.

Hawass hailed the task's completion, done at a cost of around one million euros (1.3 million dollars). "Today, we Egyptians have managed ourselves to transport the statue while in the past foreigners looked after our antiquities."