Egypt restores colossal statues of pharaoh 3,200 years after earthquake

Refurbished monuments to Amenhotep III unveiled in Luxor

The two colossal alabaster statues of ancient pharaoh Amenhotep III were unveiled in Luxor. EPA

Egypt on Sunday unveiled two restored statues of a pharaoh in Luxor 3,200 years after they were toppled in an earthquake, in the latest archaeological event aiming to draw tourists to the country.

The giant alabaster statues, known as the Colossi of Memnon, were reassembled in a project lasting 20 years. They represent Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt about 3,400 years ago.

“Today we are celebrating, actually, the finishing and the erecting of these two colossal statues,” Mohamed Ismail, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told AP before a ceremony on Sunday.

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Mr Ismail said the statues were of great significance to Luxor, a city known for its ancient temples and other antiquities. They are also an attempt to “revive how this funerary temple of king Amenhotep III looked like a long time ago”, he said.

Amenhotep III, one of the most prominent pharaohs, ruled during the 500 years of the New Kingdom, the most prosperous time for ancient Egypt. The pharaoh, whose mummy is on display at a Cairo museum, ruled between 1390 and 1353BC, a peaceful period known for its prosperity and construction, including the temple where the Colossi of Memnon are located.

The colossi were toppled by a strong earthquake in about 1200BC that also destroyed the pharaoh's funerary temple, Mr Ismail said.

The statues were fragmented and partly quarried away, with their pedestals dispersed. Some of their blocks were reused in another temple, but archaeologists brought them back to rebuild the colossi, said the Antiquities Ministry.

A hot air ballon flys over the assembly of two giant alabaster statues for Pharoah Amenhotep III, before the official opening, in the southern city of Luxor, Egypt, Sunday, on December 14, 2025. AP

In the late 1990s, an Egyptian-German mission, chaired by German Egyptologist Hourig Sourouzian, began working in the temple area and took up the restoration of the colossi. “This project has in mind … to save the last remains of a once-prestigious temple,” she said.

The statues show Amenhotep III seated with hands resting on his thighs, looking eastward towards the Nile and the rising sun. He wears a headdress surmounted by double crowns and a pleated royal kilt, symbolising divine rule. Two smaller statues on the pharaoh’s feet depict his wife, Tiye.

The statues – 14.5 metres and 13.6 metres respectively – look over the entrance to the king’s temple on the western bank of the Nile. They were made from Egyptian alabaster from the quarries of Hatnub, in Middle Egypt.

Sunday’s unveiling in Luxor came just six weeks after the inauguration of the long-delayed Grand Egyptian Museum, the centrepiece of the government’s bid to boost the country’s tourism industry and bring cash into the troubled economy. The mega project is located near the famed Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx.

The tourism sector, which depends heavily on Egypt’s rich pharaonic artefacts, has suffered during years of political turmoil and violence following the 2011 protest. In recent years, the sector has started to recover after the coronavirus pandemic and amid Russia’s war on Ukraine – both countries are major sources of tourists visiting Egypt.

With reporting from agencies