Open-Air Museum of Akhmim (Statue of Meritamun)
The colossal statue of Ramesses II's daughter Meritamun, found under the streets of ancient Panopolis.
Panopolis, city of Min
Akhmim, on the east bank of the Nile opposite Sohag, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Egypt. In antiquity it was Ipu or Khent-Min, and to the Greeks Panopolis, the city of the god Min (identified with Pan), god of fertility and of the desert roads. It was a major religious and intellectual centre in the Greco-Roman period — the birthplace of the poet Nonnus and the alchemist Zosimos — and its cemeteries have yielded large numbers of Roman-era mummies and textiles, for which Akhmim was famous.
The statue of Meritamun
Most of ancient Akhmim lies beneath the modern town. In the early 1980s, during building work, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a great temple area, including a colossal limestone statue of Meritamun, daughter and later wife of Ramesses II. Standing about 11 metres high, it is one of the largest statues of a woman to survive from ancient Egypt, and it preserves traces of its original paint, showing the queen with a heavy wig, a crown of cobras and a necklace, holding a flail. Fragments of colossal statues of Ramesses II were also found at the site, and further excavations in the area have continued to reveal blocks and statues.
Visiting
The statue and other finds are displayed in a small open-air museum set in a pit below street level in the centre of Akhmim. The town is also known for its tradition of hand-weaving, carried on in local workshops and cooperatives, and for the rock-cut tombs of El-Hawawish in the hills above.
Exhibo editorial
You turn off a busy street in a provincial town, look down into a pit, and there she is: a queen eleven metres tall, standing calmly among the foundations of a lost temple, her painted wig and cobra crown still faintly coloured. Meritamun is one of the most beautiful colossal statues in Egypt, and one of the least visited.
It's a short stop, but a memorable one. Pair it with a visit to one of Akhmim's weaving workshops, where the town's textile tradition, famous since antiquity, is still alive on the looms.
How to find it
Akhmim lies on the east bank of the Nile, about 6 km from Sohag across the bridge. The open-air museum is in the town centre; ask a taxi for Timthal Meritamun. The statue stands in the excavated area below street level, reached by steps from the entrance.
