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- CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's
second biggest pyramid will reopen soon following a year-long facelift
that involved scraping salt, lipstick and graffiti off inner walls.
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- Zahi Hawass, director of the Giza plateau where Egypt's
three great pyramids sit, said restoration work on the 4,500-year-old pyramid
of Khafre (Chefren) had just finished and tourists would be treated to
a more impressive display.
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- ``If you looked at the lighting inside the pyramid it
was not really suitable to the atmosphere, so we did it in a way that increases
the magic and mystery for visitors,'' Hawass told Reuters on Thursday.
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- Cracks were patched up using sand, water and rock chalk,
the same building materials used by the ancient Egyptians. A few areas
were deliberately left to show the extent of restoration work elsewhere.
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- Cameras will now monitor tourists to catch graffiti artists
and visitors leaving lipstick kisses and marks.
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- ``Lipstick on the walls was the biggest problem we faced
as the oils inside the lipstick were absorbed in the walls and were hard
to remove,'' said one worker at the Chefren pyramid.
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- Salt deposits resulted from the water in the breath of
visitors -- each produces about 20 grams (two-thirds of an ounce).
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- Hawass said a new ventilation system had been installed
to reduce humidity and improve the air quality for visitors to the 136-meter
(yard) high monument.
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- The pyramid of Menkaure (Mycerinus), the smallest of
the three great pyramids, is next in line for temporary closure under a
restoration scheme begun in 1998.
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- Ahead of the reopening of the Chefren pyramid, Hawass
said a limit would be placed on the number of visitors, as when the great
pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) reopened after restoration.
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- Before it was closed, Khufu's pyramid prompted safety
concerns when it attracted more than 4,000 visitors a day.
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- ``We are now permitting only 300 people to enter the
pyramid each day,'' Hawass explained. ``First come, first served.''
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