MV Khufu ship

The Khufu ship (also known as Khufu's solar boat) is a full-size ceremonial vessel from the 4th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, approximately 4,600 years old. It was commissioned by Pharaoh Khufu and was buried in a sealed pit at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC as part of the pharaoh's burial offerings for the afterlife. Made primarily of Lebanon cedar wood and constructed using an ancient 'shell-first' technique with planks tied together by ropes (without nails), the disassembled boat was discovered in 1954 by Egyptian archaeologist Kamal el-Mallakh. The excavation unearthed 1,224 wooden pieces, which were carefully documented and eventually reassembled over more than a decade by master restorer Ahmed Youssef Moustafa. When fully reconstructed, the Khufu ship measures about 43.4 meters in length and 5.9 meters in width. It features a flat bottom without a keel, a cabin area for the pharaoh, and had ten oars (five on each side), suggesting it could have been rowed; however, the boat lacks a mast or rigging for sails and provides limited room for rowers, implying it might not have been designed for extensive use on water, but primarily for ceremonial purposes. Often referred to as a 'solar barque' intended to carry Khufu in the afterlife with the sun god Ra, evidence of wear on the wood indicates the vessel may have been used at least once (possibly to transport Khufu's body along the Nile River to his pyramid or for a ritual pilgrimage) before being entombed. The ship is lauded as the oldest intact ship in the world and a masterpiece of ancient boat-building, so well-crafted that experts believe it could still float today. After reconstruction, it was displayed from 1985 onward in the Giza Solar Boat Museum built beside the Great Pyramid. In August 2021, the Khufu ship was carefully moved in one piece to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, where it remains on exhibit as a centerpiece artifact. This vessel is one of two discovered at Khufu's pyramid complex (the second boat remained buried in its pit until modern excavations in the 2000s), highlighting the significance of such boats in the royal funerary practices of ancient Egypt.