A massive statue of Pharaoh Ramses II rolled through the streets of Cairo to a new home near the Pyramids today to escape the corrosive pollution of its former spot in a crowded transit hub.
Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to bid farewell to the 3,200-year-old red granite statue, which weighs 83 tonnes and was wrapped in plastic and thick padding for the painstakingly slow 35-kilometre journey, which took 10 hours.
Ramses II was a powerful imperial ruler and prolific temple builder who ruled Egypt from about 1304 to 1237 BC.
Cairo residents waved from their windows and balconies. Some were in tears. Others climbed buses, cars and mosques to get a view of the statue, which had stood in a square outside Cairo's main railway station for over half a century.
Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities took the decision to move the statue following a decade of discussions after the statue had deteriorated, mainly due to exposure to exhaust fumes and the vibrations caused by rail and vehicle traffic.
"I'm quite sure that if you look at the statue now, you will see it is smiling," Zahi Hawass, head of the council, said after the statue reached its new home at the site of a planned museum.
The museum, near the ancient pyramids in Giza, will hold some of Egypt's most treasured antiquities, including the mummy of King Tutankhamun.