The great Pyramid disappeared

The great Pyramid disappeared

The story began in 1951 by the archaeologist and Egyptologist Zakaria Ghoneim the Chief Inspector of the Antiquities in Saqqara, he was responsible for the protection and preservation of all the antiquities in the area.

Zakaria was thoroughly familiar with the step pyramid of Saqqara, built by King Zoser of the 3rd Dynasty, but he could not understand why no pyramids of Zoser’s successors had been found.

He felt sure they were there somewhere and wanted to search for them. In his book The Buried Pyramid he wrote, “It seemed strange to me that in this, the most important necropolis of Memphis, there is only one monument which can definitely be ascribed to a 3rd Dynasty king.”1 His associates were rather skeptical. After all, pyramids can’t very well be hidden, and they were not slow to tell him so. However, Zakaria was undaunted and he set out to prove his point.

He worked hard with his team till 1954, and it could now be definitely concluded that they had found a pyramid, but it was only the lower course of a step pyramid. Where were the upper stages? Had the pyramid never been finished, or had it been finished and then dismantled by later builders who wanted some easy stones?

Zakaria concluded that it had never been finished, possibly because of the premature death of the king. The basis for this conclusion was that there were no facing stones on the outside of the stone structure, though perhaps it could just as easily be concluded that stone robbers had taken them also. The remaining height of the pyramid was only about 23 feet (7 m). If completed, it would have been 230 feet (70 m) high, 33 feet (10 m) higher than Zoser’s step pyramid.

Then came the most important discovery up to that time. It was not gold or silver. It was not ornate or beautiful, but it contained the information an archaeologist desperately hoped for. It was a collection of small pottery jars stoppered with clay and impressed with a seal. The seal impressions bore the name “Sekhem-Khet,” meaning “powerful of body.” It must be the name of the owner of the pyramid.

And the most important question had the pyramid been finished and then dismantled by later builders who wanted some easy stones?
The Egyptologist answered the question regarding his discovery, but the question remained for the next generations???

Yes many pyramids were dismantled and hundreds totally disappeared by later builders who wanted some easy stones, and this would have been the fate of the great Pyramid as well,
if the engineer not used a trick to convince the ruler of Egypt that cutting and transporting the pyramid stones will cost 2 piasters more than taking them from a near quarry to his Castle.

Muhammad Ali Pasha decided to build a great Mosque for himself.

Between the years 1830 and 1847, the governor of Egypt Muhammad Ali Pasha, decided to build the Nile arches and Muhammad Ali mosque in the Mountain Citadel.
The governor wanted to demolish the Great Pyramid and use its stones to build his mosque. But the engineers who understood the value of the pyramid well told the governor that the cost of transporting one pyramid stone which weighs five tons, is 10 piasters, while the cost of cutting and transporting the same weight from another place close to the castle is 8 piasters, and finally he decided to change his mind.

Hundreds of years before that, specifically in the year 813 AD, Caliph Al-Ma’mun took power. His men convinced him that the pyramid was full of treasures.
The Caliph sent his men to search for the treasures inside the pyramid, and they actually dug a corridor inside the pyramid which reached a room known as the burial chamber, but they left work because they did not find something valuable inside the pyramid، and till today the tourists are able to go inside the pyramid through the entrance gateway which has bees dugged by Caliph Maamuon workmen.

Muhammad Ali pasha Mosque

The Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha or Alabaster Mosque is a mosque situated in the Citadel of Cairo in Egypt and was commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha between 1830 and 1848.

Situated on the summit of the citadel, this Ottoman mosque, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is, with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the most visible mosque in Cairo.

The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali’s oldest son, who died in 1816.

This mosque, along with the citadel, is one of the landmarks and tourist attractions of Cairo and is one of the first features to be seen when approaching the city any direction.

The mosque was built on the site of old Mamluk buildings in Cairo’s Citadel between 1830 and 1848, although not completed until the reign of Said Pasha in 1857. The architect was Yusuf Bushnak from Istanbul and its model was the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in that city. The ground on which the mosque was erected was built with debris from the earlier buildings of the Citadel.

Before completion of the mosque, the alabastered panels from the upper walls were taken away and used for the palaces of Abbas I. The stripped walls were clad with wood painted to look like marble. In 1899 the mosque showed signs of cracking and some inadequate repairs were undertaken. But the condition of the mosque became so dangerous that a complete scheme of restoration was ordered by King Fuad in 1931 and was finally completed under King Farouk in 1939.

Muhammad Ali Pasha was buried in a tomb carved from Carrara marble, in the courtyard of the mosque. His body was transferred here from Hosh al-Basha in 1857.

Urban and architectural

Muhammad Ali chose to build his state mosque entirely in the architectural style of his former overlords, the Ottomans, unlike the Mamluks who, despite their political submission to the Ottomans, stuck to the architectural styles of the previous Mamluk dynasties.

The mosque was built with a central dome surrounded by four small and four semicircular domes. It was constructed in a square plan and measured 41×41 meters. The central dome is 21 meters in diameter and the height of the building is 52 meters. Two elegant cylindrical minarets of Turkish type with two balconies and conical caps are situated on the western side of the mosque, and rise to 82 meters.

The use of this style, combined with the presence of two minarets and multiple half-domes surrounding the central dome — features reserved for mosques built on the authority of the Sultan — were a defiant declaration of de facto Egyptian independence.

The main material is limestone but the lower storey and forecourt is tiled with alabaster up to 11,3 meters. The external facades are severe and angular and rise about four storeys until the level of the lead-covered domes.

The mihrab on the southeastern wall is three storeys high and covered with a semicircular dome. There are two arcades on the second storey, rising on columns and covered with domes. Although there are three entrances on each side of the forecourt, the usual entry is through the northeastern gate. The forecourt measures 50×50 meters. It is enclosed by arched riwaks rising on pillars and covered by domes.

There is a brass clock tower in the middle of the northwestern riwak, which was presented to Muhammad Ali by King Louis Philippe of France in 1845. The clock was reciprocated with the obelisk of Luxor now standing in Place de la Concorde in Paris.

The interior has a measure of 41×41 meters and gives a great feeling of space. The use of two levels of domes gives a much greater sense of space than there actually is. The central dome rises on four arches standing on colossal piers. There are four semicircular domes around the central dome. There are four smaller domes on the corners as well. The domes are painted and embellished with motifs in relief. The walls and pillars are covered with alabaster up to 11 meters high.