A six-tonne granite statue of an Egyptian god that lay under the sea for more than 1,200 years has been winched into position for the British Museum’s latest blockbuster exhibition.
Roads were closed and a crane was used to transport the 5.4-metre (18ft) high figure into the museum.
The statue of Hapi, god of the annual Nile flood, was pulled from the sea by a team of underwater archaeologists led by Franck Goddio, who has been exploring submerged cities off Egypt for two decades.
It would have stood in front of a temple in the port of Thonis-Heracleion and greeted traders and travellers. The city disappeared in the eighth century. Mr Goddio said: “We saw it in 2001 when we started the excavation and it was one of the first artefacts we found.
“We had found some very thick walls so we thought we had found the temple and we found first the feet. It was laid flat but covered with sediment, then we found the face and we understood we were in the presence of a colossus. It was an unbelievable moment.”
The team have been examining the site every year and are set to return in September to see what new treasures there are. Mr Goddio added: “We guess we haven’t explored more than five per cent of the site. We’ve identified 69 shipwrecks and have excavated two and are looking at another one.”
The statue is one of 300 objects on show in Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds at the museum in Bloomsbury.
It includes objects from its permanent collection as well as loans and examines Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus, which sat at the mouth of the Nile and were where the Greek and Egyptian empires met.
The BP exhibition runs from May 19 to November 27.
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