An Egyptian finds two huge antique statues in front of his house, one of which is of Ramesses II, and is rewarded with an Umrah trip

An Egyptian man named Khaled Al-Shahat Khalil found an archaeological stone block on his land, in a strange coincidence that was reported by the official page of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday. The archaeological discovery aroused the ministry's interest, and a delegation that included Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathi went to the site in the village of Bahbit al-Hajara in Gharbia Governorate in order to inspect it.

According to the statement, Khalil reported the stone block immediately after finding it while working on the plot of land he owned. Then the rescue excavations revealed the remains of two huge royal statues, one of King Ramesses II, and the other likely also belonged to him, in addition to a pink granite block bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions with his royal titles.

The dimensions of the head of the first statue also indicate that the height of the original statue, including its base, may have been about 8.5 metres. Fathi confirmed that this archaeological area will be given more attention in terms of archaeological excavations, pointing out that there are important indicators indicating the possibility of the presence of more archaeological treasures there.

He also presented Khalil and his wife with a certificate of honor and a Umrah trip, in appreciation of his honesty, responsible position, and initiative to report the archaeological stone block and hand it over to the competent authorities. It should be noted that Gharbia Governorate includes ancient Egyptian antiquities, along with Islamic and Coptic antiquities, and is full of prominent archaeological sites, including Sa al-Hajar and Abu Sir Banna, in addition to the Tanta Museum’s collections, and others.