02:30 p.m
Sunday 25 September 2022
(Masrawy):
In conjunction with Egypt’s celebration of the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the secrets of writing, and the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone by the French academic and linguist Jean-François Champollion, in September of 1822, the denunciation renewed on social media, following circulating pictures of the statue of Champollion, as he put his foot on the The head of an Egyptian pharaoh.
Below we review the story of the carving of this offensive statue, which raises controversy from time to time.
This marble statue, carved by the French artist Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, depicts Champollion standing with his left foot on the head of a pharaoh, in the year 1875.
– It was displayed in the “Parc Egyptian” garden established by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette.
– Participated in the World Exhibition of 1877, which was celebrating the end of the war between France and Prussia (Germany today).
– The statue was originally supposed to be moved to Champollion’s hometown, but the statue did not find enough financial support and remained erected in Paris.
In 1878, the statue was erected in its present location on the Place de Collège de France, in the center of Paris, one of the most important centers of higher education in the capital.
In 2013, some Egyptian archaeologists sent a petition to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Antiquities condemning the statue as a contempt for Egyptian civilization.
At this time, a number of Egyptian organizations and youth movements in France threatened an international escalation and organized protest vigils, which provoked a crisis between the Egyptians and the French government, as the Egyptians considered it an attack on the Pharaonic Egyptian civilization and an insult to every Egyptian in Europe.
In another context, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is celebrating, this September, the 200th anniversary of the deciphering of ancient Egyptian writing and the emergence of Egyptology by the French scientist “Champollion” who deciphered the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone in 1822, by launching a promotional campaign on the sites Its own on various social media platforms to highlight the most important and distinguished artifacts that were discovered within each of the Egyptian governorates, under the title: “Learn regarding a treasure in your governorate.”
Egyptian experts and archaeologists expressed their outrage at the image spread on social media, which shows insulting one of the ancient Egyptian kings, calling on the concerned authorities in Egypt to take immediate action to remove the insulting statue of Egypt and file a complaint once morest the French University.
