Egypt's Antiquities Minister announced on Tuesday that archaeologists working on the excavation of an ancient temple in the city of Cairo, have discovered a chapel used by a pharaoh about 2,300 years ago. The discovery has occurred in the former pharaonic capital of Heliopolis, which today is a working-class, middle-class residential area of Cairo.
The chapel was built by King Nectanebo I, a king of the 30th dynasty who ruled from 380 to 340 BC, between the two Persian invasions of ancient Egypt.
The minister has stated that the prayer space within the chapel consists of a few carved basalt blocks plus a real statue with a sign on which you can read: «King Merineptah«. the statue shows King Merineptah, son of Ramses II, delivering an offering to a god.
These types of discoveries are rare in this area since many stones from these ancient buildings were used in the construction of Islamic Cairo in the 12th century.
