Egypt has officially completed the reconstruction of the second solar boat of Pharaoh Khufu, marking a significant achievement in archaeological conservation and Egyptology. The ancient ceremonial vessel, dating back more than 4,000 years and originally buried in a sealed pit beside the Great Pyramid of Giza, has now been painstakingly restored and reassembled for public viewing.
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) recently began the live assembly process of the vessel composed of roughly 1,650 cedarwood pieces in its dedicated Khufu Boats Museum gallery. The reconstruction project allows visitors to watch experts carefully piece together this 42-meter-long artefact in real time, an educational first for heritage preservation.
Discovered in 1954, Khufu’s two solar boats are ceremonial barges believed to have been intended to carry the pharaoh in his journey with the sun god Ra through the afterlife. While the first boat was previously restored and displayed, the second remained sealed and fragile, requiring decades of delicate conservation work before reassembly could begin.
Egyptian archaeologists, working alongside international conservation partners, reassembled thousands of wooden fragments using techniques that respect ancient construction methods. The result offers fresh insights into ancient shipbuilding, religious beliefs, and engineering skills of Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty.
Now part of the world’s largest archaeological museum complex, the reconstructed solar boat stands as one of the most significant examples of ancient maritime craftsmanship ever uncovered, attracting scholars and visitors from around the globe to the Giza Plateau.
