Solar Boat Museum (Khufu Ship)
Solar Boat Museum (Khufu Ship)
64 years ago, on May 27, 1954, Egypt celebrated one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the world, which was the sun boats "Solar Boat", which was discovered at the base of the pyramid by the Egyptian archaeologist Kamal Al-Malakh. They were found inside two covered pits at the southern base of the Pyramid of Khufu.
The sun boats are funeral boats made 5000 years ago around 2800 BC, which are wooden boats made of cedar wood and were found disassembled, and the bodies of kings were placed on them, during funeral ceremonies, and the first boat is called the Khufu boat.
In the vicinity of the Great Pyramid, seven pits were found, five of them belonging to the Pyramid of Khufu and two belonging to the Pyramids of the Queens, and the two sun boat pits south of the Pyramid of Khufu were found in good condition and sealed.
Funeral ships were used in Egypt to help the Pharaohs move to the afterlife from the holy places. The myth of Ra tells that he becomes a child at sunrise (Khepri), then a fat man at noon (Ra), and then an old man in the evening. (Atom) rides two boats—according to the belief of the Pharaohs—which are the chariot of Ra, which is the disk of the sun that crosses the day when it rises in the sky, then disappears at sunset, and the god’s journey begins across the heavenly sea during the night.
In 1954, Egyptian archaeologist Kamal al-Malakh discovered the two southern pits, and the parts of the sun boat were taken out of the eastern pit and reassembled by Egyptian experts, in a process that lasted about 10 years, while the second pit was examined in 1987, and it was found to contain the parts of a complete disassembled sun boat, and it is planned to install it in the future as well, the first sun boat is on display in the Sun Boat Museum next to the pyramid and can be viewed by visitors.
