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.