A tour guide has been arrested after being caught on camera defacing a 4,000-year-old pyramid with chalk, causing outrage.
Footage shows the guide being confronted moments after scribbling on the monument.
Astonishingly, the Egyptian guide had made a series of drawings on a block to illustrate something to his tour group.
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The video was shared online on Sunday (22 Feb), gaining a whopping 492,000 views and 2,700 likes.
The video caption reads: “Today at Saqqara, near the Pyramid of Unas, I came across a man – a tour guide for Russian tourists – drawing on the pyramid with chalk.
“When I politely told him that what he was doing was wrong, he asked me, ‘Are you serious?’ Honestly, I didn’t know how to respond.”
The Egyptian Ministry of Interior launched an investigation after the chalk-wielding guide was referred to authorities.
He was arrested, confessed during questioning, and has been temporarily suspended from work.
His chalk illustrations were removed by the Saqqara Antiquities Department, as reported by Need To Know.
The guide apologised, saying it was his first day back at work in four years and that overexcitement led him to make an “unforgivable mistake”.
He lives in the Boulaq Al Dakrour area and is now facing legal proceedings.
Local media report he could face a year or more in prison, plus a fine of up to 500,000 EGP (£7,698), if convicted of damaging an antiquity.
Archaeology experts warned that chemicals in chalk can react with limestone and granite, potentially causing surface erosion.
The Tour Guides’ Syndicate stressed that its members take great care in preserving monuments and described the incident as an isolated mistake.
One viewer, Ismail, said: “What he’s doing is 100% wrong, but for clarification, that rock is not ancient…
“I’ve been many times. It’s cement/plaster. Most ancient Egyptian monuments have renovated bases to preserve the structure.”
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