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A 4,600-year-old royal ship of Pharaoh Khufu, found beside the Great Pyramid and painstakingly rebuilt, now in its own dedicated hall.سفينةٌ ملكية لخوفو عمرها 4600 عام، عُثر عليها بجوار الهرم الأكبر وأُعيد بناؤها بعناية، وهي اليوم في قاعةٍ خاصّة بها.
Among the most extraordinary objects at the Grand Egyptian Museum is the Solar Boat of Khufu — a full-size royal ship more than 4,600 years old, and one of the oldest and best-preserved large wooden vessels to survive from antiquity. Built for the pharaoh who raised the Great Pyramid, it was discovered in pieces beside his monument and painstakingly reconstructed. Today it has a hall of its own, where visitors can marvel at the seafaring skill of the ancient Egyptians.
من أكثر مقتنيات المتحف المصري الكبير إدهاشًا مركبُ خوفو الشمسي — سفينةٌ ملكية بالحجم الكامل يزيد عمرها على 4600 عام، وهي من أقدم السفن الخشبية الكبيرة وأفضلها حفظًا ممّا بقي من العصور القديمة. بُنيت للفرعون الذي شيّد الهرم الأكبر، واكتُشفت مفكّكةً بجوار أثره وأُعيد تجميعها بعناية فائقة. واليوم لها قاعةٌ خاصّة، يتأمّل فيها الزوّار مهارة المصريين القدماء في صناعة السفن.
A Ship for Eternity · سفينةٌ للأبدية
Built to carry a king among the gods.بُنيت لتحمل ملكًا بين الآلهة.
The vessel is known as a "solar boat" because of its sacred purpose. The ancient Egyptians believed the pharaoh's soul would journey across the heavens with the sun god Ra, and a great boat like this was buried to carry the king on that eternal voyage. Built for Khufu — builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza — it is both a masterpiece of craftsmanship and a window into ancient Egyptian beliefs about death and the world beyond.
Discovery & Reconstruction · الاكتشاف وإعادة البناء
A 4,500-year-old puzzle solved.أُحجيةٌ عمرها 4500 عام حُلّت.
The boat was found in 1954, sealed in a pit at the foot of the Great Pyramid, carefully dismantled into more than a thousand pieces of Lebanese cedar. Over the following years, experts reassembled the puzzle plank by plank, revealing a sleek ship around 43 metres long, built without nails and lashed together with ropes. The result is astonishingly graceful — proof of just how advanced ancient Egyptian woodworking and ship-building had become more than four and a half thousand years ago.
The Journey to the GEM · الرحلة إلى المتحف
A delicate, modern voyage.رحلةٌ حديثة بالغة الدقّة.
The boat once had its own small museum right beside the pyramid. In 2021, in a remarkable feat of engineering, it was moved several kilometres to the Grand Egyptian Museum inside a specially built, climate-controlled vehicle, travelling at a crawl to protect the fragile timbers. A second boat of Khufu, also recovered from beside the pyramid, has been undergoing conservation to join it. Now reunited with the wider collection, the boat is displayed in its own dedicated hall for all to admire.
Quick Facts · حقائق سريعة
Sources include the Grand Egyptian Museum and Egyptian heritage guides. Some figures are approximate.