Friday March 29th, 2024
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An Egyptian Archeologist is Calling for the Removal of an Offensive Statue of Champollion

A statue of Champollion - a founding father of Egyptology - stepping on a Pharaoh's head in France is being deemed ‘offensive’ and ‘racist’ by Egyptian archeologists who are calling for its removal.

Staff Writer

An Egyptian Archeologist is Calling for the Removal of an Offensive Statue of Champollion

With the world confronting its racist colonial past after protests against police brutality in the US sparked a global conversation, we’ve been seeing statues that were built to idolise false idols and racist figures dropping like flies. From Winston Churchill in the UK, to King Leopold II in Belgium, to the many, many confederate generals in the US, people have been re-examining what these statues truly mean to them and have responded by tearing them down or expressing their thoughts through colourful language and graffiti.

And Egyptian archaeologists have just joined the movement. They have their sights set on a statue of Jean Francois Champollion in France. Champollion is a French scholar famous for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics, and while he is recognised as one of the founding fathers of Egyptology, the way that the statue chose to celebrate his achievements has raised eyebrows. Depicted with his left boot on top of a Pharaoh's head, the statue of Champollion has drawn disturbing parallels with events in the US, as well as with how some French colonialists saw Egyptian history as yet another territory to conquer.

An Egyptian researcher in Egyptology and tour guide Bassam el-Shammaa is spearheading the call to take down the statue, which dates back to 1875, and was sculpted by French artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, who is known for another world-famous landmark: New York’s Statue of Liberty.

Shamma addressed UNESCO in a letter urging the statue be removed. “I hope that the French people who adore the Egyptian civilization support us and call their government to remove this shameful statue,” Shamma said.  "I wrote to them not as a representative of the culture or the tourism and antiquities ministries, but as an Egyptian citizen. I hope they will positively respond to our demand."