Step Pyramid of Djoser

An interesting article in Times (London) today about this pyramid which tourists will now be able to enter for the first time since the 1930s. It was beginning to crumble into the burial chamber but Peter James oversaw a very difficult and very dangerous task of reinforcing and stabilizing. The sarcophagus is still present in the chamber but no signs of a mummy.

Came across a link in another newspaper which isn't behind a paywall:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8079495/Egypt-reopens-ancient-st...

With so many media sites covering this news, we were not stuck with Daily Mail. Here is an alternative page with compiled photos and blurbs from news providers around the world. The page isn't behind a paywall.

https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-inside-djoser-pyramid-egypt-2020-3#touris...

I have to say, the timing of the decision is terrible.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/world/middleeast/egypt-coronavirus-tourism.ht... (potentially behind a paywall)

The contrasting scenes in Luxor in recent days illustrated the country’s precarious balancing act in the face of the outbreak: Even as doctors administered tests on Monday, they did not want to get in the way of anyone’s vacation.(...)

But already, Luxor has become a hub for transmitting the coronavirus to other countries.

In the past week or so, at least 29 tourists who visited Egypt in February tested positive after returning home. The infected tourists are mostly American and French, and several of them traveled on the A Sara, the Nile cruiser now quarantined at Luxor.

The reopening of an ancient pyramid to the public during is interesting. It might be too interesting during this pandemic.