CAIRO — The Suez Canal Authority announced Oct. 11 the transfer of the statue of French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, the man behind the idea of ​​digging the canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, from Port Said governorate to the headquarters of the Suez Canal International Museum in Ismailia governorate. The statue was housed in a marine shipyard at the Suez Canal Authority for more than 60 years.

The statue was installed on Nov. 17, 1899, at the northern entrance to the canal on the 30th anniversary of the canal’s opening to international navigation. The canal was inaugurated in 1869, but Egyptians removed the statue in 1956 following the tripartite aggression against Egypt; it has been in the warehouse of the authority’s shipyard ever since.

The transfer decision comes following several attempts on the part of the authorities over the past years to re-erect the statue at the northern entrance to the canal in order to boost tourism. However, such attempts have been rejected by Egyptians who believe that the statue is a symbol of colonialism that embodies a period of injustice for Egyptians.

Monica Hanna, dean of the College of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport, told Al-Monitor, “It is true that the government had an urgent desire over the past years to re-erect the statue at the northern entrance to the canal with the aim of boosting tourism, especially considering that the statue is cultural heritage and a testament to an important period in Egyptian history. This desire strongly emerged after the January revolution in 2011 and the clear economic and tourist deterioration that ensued.”