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14:11 beautiful public park that can be visited year round, no matter if it's day or night. Daylight would be brought in by fibre optic cables and it would actually facilitate green growth underneath as well. The low line is an attempt to deal with not just the problem of the lack of natural light that results from being underground, but also the benefits we miss out on by being separated from the natural world. 14:38 And if it's possible to provide the right conditions for plants to grow underground, like the plans for the lowline, why not take that a step further and build underground farms to secure food supplies no matter what the weather is like on the surface? Those farms already exist and Antonia has visited two of them. I've been, for instance, in the Rowing Underground project in London that is being developed 15:08 had this idea, let's grow some food underground in this old form of bunker that's no longer used. And they're now a very successful business, growing food, microgreens in these spaces and they're fully LED lit. And we also have a prototype in Switzerland that I've just visited recently, where also the same concept applies. I've also heard of many mushroom farms that are growing underneath. 15:37 Seoul for instance also has one in a metro station where they grow greens in the metro station and can freshly produce salads and smoothies for the commuters. A similarly groundbreaking project in France in the cities of Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Paris also plans to grow food underground for inhabitants. It's even been suggested that disused coal mines in the UK could be converted to underground farms. 16:05 Cultivating crops not only cuts the carbon emissions generated by transporting supplies into the city, underground farms have no insects or birds that can destroy crops, and it uses less space and water than growing vegetables above ground. And there are other wins for the environment. Underground spaces as a whole need less heating and air conditioning because the temperature is more stable throughout the year than it is above ground. 16:35 Not only that, whilst they take more energy to construct because of all the digging, once built they don't need as many repairs. There's no wear and tear as such in terms of there's no facade or interior works that really need a lot of maintenance. Of course you have to kind of look at structurally and sort of do the normal asset management, but it has a different life cycle than the buildings on the surface. 17:03 So from that point of view, it also has an advantage in that sense. Time for our fourth expert witness. Part four. Can you dig it? 17:24 We have a world that is urbanizing. It's becoming an urban world. The majority of the population is living in cities now and in urban settlements of different kinds. So the more efficient use of land we can get, the better we can accommodate this growing population. Urban density brings opportunities and advantages that can be facilitated by living underground. 17:53 It is a new frontier and for the most daring architects and planners and engineers out there, an opportunity to make lasting contributions to the well-being of humanity. Clara Arraza-Bowell is Programme Director of the Urban Studies and Planning Programme at the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland. 18:17 She points out that whilst underground buildings can have advantages because they're protected from the elements, both construction and upkeep are expensive. Cost will be higher building underground and it might require greater technological complexities and innovation. And then issues of maintenance, repairs and systems of waterproofing, ventilation and the keeping of structural integrity. 18:45 my proof more challenging underground. Part of the design and planning also needs to take account of how time underground may affect our psychological health.

04:52 So it's an ideal place and out of the population of, give or take a couple of thousand, there are probably two thirds of them live year round underground. And what's it like for them living underground? What are the rooms like? What's the interior like? And how do they get access to sunlight? I would say it's delightful. The rock has a slight orangey marbling to it. So the natural rock finish is quite attractive. 05:20 They tend to have the living rooms very near the entrance, possibly with some windows so they get natural light in the places they'll be spending most of the day. And then beyond that, storage and bedrooms without natural light but in an ambient temperature which in the outside temperature of 45 is very restful. Coober Pedy's homely feel is partly due to the fact that families have their living quarters underground. 05:46 There are however many cities around the world in which residents make their homes above ground but engage in many everyday activities beneath the earth's surface. Time for our second expert witness. Part 2. We built this city. 06:06 Over 60 countries around the world have a metro or underground transport system, and in many cases the subway stations are connected to a wider underground world of shops or the basements of office buildings. In practical terms, these allow commuters to exit a train and walk directly to their place of work without going up in a lift or escalator to ground level first. It allows the daily commute, work and even picking up something to eat for dinner. 06:35 to be a much more connected experience. It's not only a place to walk from the subway to the basement of the building. It's also a place to shop, to have fun. So the underground space is a part of the city and you need to plan it that way. My name is Jacques Bessner. I'm an architect and urban planner and general manager of the ACUS, the Associated Research Center for the Underground Space. There is, of course, 07:04 Another reason that we may want to spend more time underground. And that is climate. In eastern Canada, winters are often bitingly cold, with temperatures sometimes dropping to minus 30 degrees Celsius. In the 1980s and 90s, Jacques worked for Montreal's government, arranging for property developers to link their projects to the city's underground network. Montreal's underground city stretches for over 30 kilometres. 07:34 and is home to hundreds of shops and restaurants, not to mention several museums. About half a million people use it every day. Jacques says that such underground spaces are designed very carefully in order that they feel safe and agreeable, so that people are encouraged to stay there as long as possible, and of course, given plenty of opportunity to spend money. If it's a corridor, it should be as large as possible. 08:02 with a signing system very user-friendly people could feel lost inside those spaces especially if you don't have things on the wall so signage is very very important to know where are the exits and you should avoid square corridors, avoid doors hidden on the walls. People could be there to attack you by example so you should design those spaces 08:31 having in mind the safety of users. Modern technology and building materials mean that underground shopping malls can now be constructed without endangering existing buildings. And this is not always the case in cities with longer histories. When London's underground transport system began to be constructed over a century ago, the ground needed to be excavated at a very deep level so as not to disrupt the buildings already above it. 08:59 It's often not possible in older cities to connect underground stations to the basement of buildings because the levels are simply too far apart. What these and other historic cities do have, however, is a wealth of fascinating dugouts ripe for creative development. Since the Middle Age to the Cold War era,

For some people the thought of being underground in a confined space and worrying about getting out in the event of flooding or a fire is just too off-putting. It would also need for us to take into consideration 19:11 the psychological impacts of living underground because people might feel a sense of isolation or claustrophobia or the absence of direct connection to the natural world might make them, you know, more prone to depression. There are other limitations or disadvantages. For example, 19:34 the fact of having limited outdoor space and particularly natural space, natural access to the sky. Then there are the negative associations. The Oscar-winning film Parasite tells the story of a Korean family living in a basement bunker in Seoul. The characters are fictional but the problems it depicts are very real. Around 200,000 people live in so-called Banjia homes in Seoul. 20:02 making up around 5% of households in the capital. Occupants are vulnerable to the risk of flooding, poor ventilation and insect infestations. These problems are fixed in modern developments, but the difficulty of lingering negative perceptions is hard to resolve. Living underground historically has been associated with a lack of resources to live above ground in large cities. We see that, for example, that 20:32 people that live underground are the ones that cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage elsewhere. And they are usually spaces that are less well ventilated and lighted than others. That doesn't need to be the case, but that is the way it has happened in history and has provided for this large perception of the deficiencies of living underground. Humans have been designed to live above ground. 21:02 We are wired to have an attraction to natural light and natural ventilation and the natural world. And the other thing is that we are animals of custom. We like traditions and it is hard to make changes to our habits and habitually we live above ground. So adapting and adopting new habits to live underground is also an enormous... 21:32 transition an enormous challenge to consider. So if you were to plan a city now from scratch, would you put the shopping malls underground and the offices, or would you put the homes underground or a mixture of both? What we currently have is mostly shopping and offices and casinos and transportation hubs in most of the cities that have explored this option of partial living underground. 22:00 But I think that towards the future we need to conceive of more robust models that would also integrate residential use. In short, we need to keep developing ideas to make underground living work. This is uncharted territory to a large extent. We need to be creative. We need to push the boundaries of knowledge. And we need to be daring and courageous in this exploration 22:30 breakthrough with very good models of healthy living underground, I think it will be a phenomenal contribution to the multifaceted way in which we need to conceive living. Now we return to our question. Is our future underground? As more people gravitate towards cities we need more space for people to travel, work, shop and enjoy leisure time. 22:59 The temperature in underground spaces is easier to control. We can stream natural light into them and even grow vegetation. The problems we have yet to conquer are mainly ones of perception and of course finding the money to do it. Is our future underground? The short answer is that in the face of climate change and overcrowding, we really don't have a choice but to start digging deep. 23:26 This inquiry was presented by me, Tania Beckett, produced by Ravi Naik, researched by Matt Toulson and edited by Tara McDermott. The programme was mixed by Craig Boardman.

09:22 many many cities have underground facilities where they are to be safe, to avoid bombing. People now are seeing those spaces either as a touristic feature or to use those spaces to do something else inside like keep wines or to put restaurants. It's a little bit fashionable, trendy to do that, to go there, to live in bizarre environment but... 09:49 It's quite interesting to refurbish with the modern taste those spaces. We are then, it seems, quite used to existing at subterranean levels, at least for limited periods of time. But as cities become more crowded and global temperatures continue to rise, we may be encouraged to do it more often and for longer. But you do think that going underground is a solution to the threat from climate change? 10:17 Climate change has various effects. It could be flooding, it could be fires, but also in summertime in our cities, it's too humid and hot, and people prefer to maybe to be inside with climatized spaces. When it's raining, it's the same. People prefer to be inside, to shop inside, to walk inside from the subway. So I think rain and humidity are an important factor for the future to be considered. 10:46 and the underground space is a solution for that. The case for spending more time beneath the Earth's surface is certainly becoming more compelling. Montreal's underground city was developed 60 years ago. Now, with climate change becoming ever more pressing, how are architects in the 21st century developing ideas for a more challenging era ahead? Time for our third expert witness. 11:16 It all started with me asking my friends and family to write letters to my daughter, Coco, sharing their experiences and giving her advice for her life ahead. The idea blossomed into Dear Daughter from the BBC World Service. The podcast where, with the help of your letters, I'm creating a handbook to life full of advice for daughters everywhere. Listen now by searching for Dear Daughter wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Dear Daughter. 11:46 Part 3 I saw the light 11:52 My name is Antonia Conaro. I work at Amborg Engineering, an engineering consulting firm based in Switzerland and I'm also the co-chair of the ITA committee on underground space. One of the most daring plans for underground construction is in South Korea. The vision for the light walk is a subterranean thoroughfare over half a kilometer long, carved out beneath a large area of green space in the Gangnam neighborhood of Seoul. 12:19 A crystalline glass roof above it will diffuse natural light into the spaces below. Seoul is densely developed and has too little park land for so many inhabitants. And they want to kind of have a state-of-the-art park like New York has Central Park or London has Hyde Park. They want to have this light walk park, but at the same time it will have several other functions. 12:49 integrate with the underground lines with the very extensive metro system of Seoul and it will also create recreational areas for people underground. Let's say when the weather is too humid or too hot or too windy or whatever it might be on the surface they can be in these lower line park-like spaces. 13:12 A glass roof can help solve one of the persistent problems of underground spaces, which is they lack natural light. We know that not enough sunlight is bad for our psychological and physical well-being, so modern projects have been using some clever new techniques to tackle the problem, including reflection, refraction and fibre optic cables. But there is another significant challenge and that is digging below earth requires 13:41 money. Lots of it. In New York's Manhattan, plans for the world's first underground park on the Lower East Side, the Low Line, began in 2019 but were put on hold a year later due to lack of funds. But there are hopes that this ground-breaking project will be revived and even, dare I say it, take seed. And they've tested various ways to grow plants underneath and it will actually be

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00:00 Where to Be a Woman is the podcast celebrating the best of women's wellbeing. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Welcome to The Inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett. One question, four expert witnesses and an answer. Today, just over half of the world's eight billion inhabitants live in cities. 00:27 The United Nations estimates that that number will rise to more than two-thirds of the world's population within the next quarter of a century. Let's just say that again. By 2050, seven in ten people will live in urban environments. The vast percentage of the increase will happen in Asia and Africa, where the population is growing at its fastest and economic growth is more rapid. Cities will become increasingly overcrowded. 00:56 Not only that, because they're hotter than their rural surroundings, climate change will in some cases make the temperatures too unbearable or costly to live in. And as we use more energy to cool buildings above ground, this will add further to our carbon footprint. But there is a possible solution. And that is to expand cities not upwards or outwards, but downwards. This week on The Inquiry we're asking... 01:25 Is our future underground? Part one, going underground. 01:35 In the centre of modern Turkey lies a vast region of otherworldly beauty. 5,000 square kilometres of surreal landscape with cone-shaped rock formations that stretch further than the eye can see. These fairy chimneys, as they're often described, were created millions of years ago when ash tumbled from the sky after a storm of volcanic activity. Look more closely and... 02:04 carved on the sides of these naturally created peaks, you will see they are honeycombed with doorways. If we wander in through one of the entrances, a whole world of man-made passages opens up. One such underground complex is the city of Derinkuyu. It's a network of tunnels and rooms burrowed 85 meters below ground. 02:30 For centuries these subterranean labyrinths have been used as safe hiding places, the people inside blocking out their enemies with huge rocks. The millstone, which would roll across the entrance passage, and because that was being rolled from inside, then it really couldn't be opened from outside. And then they had a maze of side passages so that if people were attacking, then there were holes in the approach passage where you could poke them with. 03:00 presumably sharp sticks and worse, in order to protect the occupants from the conflict. Our first expert witness is a lifelong enthusiast of historic dwellings beneath the earth's surface. I'm Martin Dixon. My passion is man-made and man-used underground space. So largely through a charity called Subterranea Britannica, I've had the privilege of exploring underground space on every continent. 03:26 Martin says the tunnels of Derinkuyu in Turkey seem to have been inhabited for longer than just very brief spells. So these were built not for permanent residency as far as we can ascertain but to protect the residents and their livestock from conflict above ground. They would have wells for water, they would have sort of light shafts so they had a certain amount of natural light, they would have stables and mangers for livestock. 03:55 and they were very well protected. The idea of retreating to caves in times of trouble is, of course, nothing new. Since the beginning of human history, people have sought out natural shelters not just to flee predators and enemies, but also to escape hostile weather conditions. A century ago, in the outback of southern Australia, miners who came to dig for precious opals built a whole new world below ground to escape the searing heat. 04:24 Today the one and a half thousand inhabitants of Coober Pedy live, shop, visit bars and even worship in churches underground in what the locals call dugouts. A consequence of Coober Pedy being in the middle of the Australian outback is that in the summer in particular it is extremely hot, I mean mid to high 40s. In Coober Pedy the underground temperature is probably 21, 22 year round.

15:27 The galleries have not been opened and it has been expected that it would open this year. We still don't have a date. Egypt wants it to be a very big international occasion when it opens. It wants to invite global leaders. The museum is massive. It will have tens of thousands of artifacts, all the treasures of Tutankhamun. 15:54 So of course Egypt is spinning a lot of hope on this museum to attract tourists. A number of critics of the original plan to restore the granite blocks to Menkaure's pyramid have suggested that the project is part of this wider push to spruce up Egypt's monuments, something they say undermines the authenticity and integrity of such iconic structures. And the fact that this particular plan appeared to take everyone by surprise 16:24 hasn't helped. I think there is a feeling that this was sprung on people, that there has not been sufficient discussion, and not enough has been done to prove to people that this is a credible project. So the idea that someone would change their appearance, this idea needed to be better introduced and to be... 16:51 better debated and endorsed by experts for Egyptians to actually embrace it because I think it was just sprung on people who felt what are they doing now. 17:08 I believe it is also controversial among archaeologists and Egyptologists, the idea of whether you should reassemble a broken monument or leave it as it is. It is something that requires debate by experts and Egyptians did not see this. And this goes to the heart of the debate over Menkauri's pyramid and indeed other such monuments. How far should we go to fix these structures? 17:37 for the sake of giving people a better idea of what they looked like originally. What is the balance between conservation and restoration? 17:50 Part 4, Protecting the Pyramid. 17:59 Documenting what's going on right now, I think, is terrific. But before a single block is moved and placed onto the pyramid, then I think a lot of construction engineering teams should go and find out if everything is OK within the pyramid and how it will affect it. 18:20 That's Professor Salima Ikram, who's an archaeologist at the American University in Cairo. She's been one of those voices urging caution over any plan to restore Menkaure's pyramid, a too hasty approach she believes could do irreversible damage. Because for the past several thousands of years, it has been without the red granite casing. So what would happen if we added it now? Would it change the equilibrium? 18:50 While the pictures of men moving earth last month may have suggested work had already begun, whatever was actually happening was brought to an abrupt halt when the Egyptian government ordered a review of the plan by the Committee of Scientists. That committee said unanimously that it was opposed to the restoration, throwing the whole scheme into doubt. Salima Ikram says there are differing views among archaeologists over what should and shouldn't be done to monuments like this. 19:19 Conservation and restoration are very complicated subjects because there are many different schools of thought. So you can't just give one answer. And of course, it also depends on what kind of building you are talking about if we're talking about monumental restoration. So one way of doing it is to just use what is there. And then if there is a gap, you leave it or. 19:44 Alternatively, you fill the gap in with something that is a very obvious material, or you try and, based on your knowledge of what a building would be like, you fill it in based on parallels. So you can see that it depends on what your theoretical viewpoint is and also what is the purpose of the restoration. But the Committee of Scientists has given initial consent to some archaeological excavation of the site, providing detailed scientific evidence.

20:14 plans are forthcoming. And it has agreed that some cleaning and organisation can take place for the convenience of visitors. So what might that all mean for Menkaure's pyramid? Using materials that are not going to damage the monument in any way is also a key component to any restoration project. Some people think if you can do anastylosis, which is basically looking at what's fallen down and putting it back in its place… 20:42 that is fine, but then adding to the building is not fine, while some people will say, well, if it helps in the greater stability, then one can add to that particular monument, but make it very clear that these are additions that are modern and have nothing to do with the original materials and the original structure. And Professor Ickram says any restoration work done on the pyramid has to be reversible. In case you get it wrong is one reason. 21:10 And sometimes if you're using, you know, in the seventies and eighties, people were using cement every which way. And now you need to get rid of it. And in some places use lime. And in certain instances, it's very difficult to get rid of that or various other materials that have been used in the past. So you end up damaging the monument when you try and reverse something like that, if it's cement, for example. Absolutely. So the whole point... 21:38 What we are supposed to do as restorers or conservators is to protect the monument and keep its inherent integrity, maintain that as far as is possible. These are complex and sensitive questions. Not just how any work should be carried out, but also who should have a voice in the debate. These pyramids are a world heritage site, but as we've heard they're also crucial to Egypt's economy. 22:07 So who are the pyramids for? That is a very good question. I mean, I am an archaeologist, and I would say my first duty would be to the monument. But then, of course, monuments are a very complicated thing, and should one do it for tourists and tourist revenue? But I don't think you should ever do anything that will compromise the safety of the monument. It's a very complicated issue because 22:36 We cannot only look to the dead, we have to look to the living and their well-being and economic well-being. 22:47 And so we return to our question, what's going on with the pyramids? 22:57 With something as precious as the pyramids, there's a risk that actions taken in haste could forever alter these monuments that have captivated human imagination for more than four millennia. We heard compelling words from Hebe Salah pointing out the centrality of the pyramids to Egypt's Aeneid economy. But we also heard from Salima Ikram of the dangers involved in restoring monuments without necessarily knowing what they looked like in the first place. 23:29 The irony at the bottom of all this is that the right course of action may simply be to do nothing for the time being. 23:40 You've been listening to The Inquiry with me, Gary O'Donoghue. The producer was Louise Clark, the researcher was Matt Toulson, and the editor is Tara McDermott. Technical production was by Nicky Edwards.

There's also a big hole in one side where a medieval local ruler of Cairo tried to start demolishing it. So what you've got is probably about a fifth. 05:21 or possibly a sixth of the lower part of it with granite still in place. And then the rest of the pyramid is surrounded by fallen blocks of granite from the casing. The fine quality limestone of the upper part, however, is long gone, probably used for building mosques in medieval Cairo. The driving force behind the plan to restore Menkaure's pyramid is Dr Mustafa Waziri, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. 05:51 He's a well-respected archaeologist in his own right, but has found himself at the centre of a controversy over the plan to restore Menkaure's pyramid. 06:05 Part 2 The Plan for the Pyramid 06:12 About a month ago, Dr Mostafa Waziri posted this video. It shows him in front of Menkaure's pyramid, standing on one of those granite blocks, talking enthusiastically, with men working busily in front of him. It gave the distinct impression that the work had already begun. But what was the scale of what was being suggested? 06:41 Oh, it's far and above anything that's been done so far. I don't think anybody has ever conceived of doing something like this on the plateau. There's nothing that's been done that would come even close to equaling it. Dr Jennifer Hellam is our second witness. She's a senior lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He was... 07:07 showing how he was planning on doing the work. He had some workmen who were shifting dirt. I'm not sure if they were doing anything other than that. And he was speaking in Arabic to a group of what appeared to be perhaps local news people. That is what seems to be what he was doing. And it was definitely something that was staged. It looked as if it was 07:35 something that was intended to be shown on various media. It all came as something of a surprise to archaeologists and Egyptologists around the world. The immediate backlash led the Egyptian government to set up a scientific committee, which within a couple of weeks expressed its opposition to the plans. But what exactly was the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities proposing for Menkaure's pyramid? 08:04 What we've discovered is that he has got together with a Japanese group from, ostensibly from Waseda University, who are going to re-clad the Menkaori's pyramid with granite. It's different than any of the other pyramids on the Giza Plateau in that it was intended to be. 08:27 in granite and there's granite stones around, sort of blocks around and there are seven rows of granite already in situ. He says there are maybe nine missing and that's what he wants to put back, nine rows of granite missing. Is that a good idea? There's worry about whether he's taken into account the fact that 08:52 For instance, the limestone itself when it first went on was not particularly good limestone, and that's why it had to be clad. It sat for thousands of years in the weather and therefore it's even worse than it was, so is it structurally stable? He plans on using the granite blocks that were sort of left on the side of the pyramid. 09:18 Though some of those have been taken away, some of them have not been dressed. The Egyptians didn't dress the stones until they were actually in situ themselves, so they would roughly shape them and then put them on and then they would sort of dress them so that they had smooth sides. None of them have been dressed, which means that none of them would appear to have been originally on the pyramid itself. 09:45 No one really knows whether the granite blocks in the sand around the base of the pyramid were ever on the pyramid itself. As we've already heard, Egyptologists believe Menkaure may have died young and his pyramid left unfinished, which would explain building materials being left at the site but not installed. The debate over what to do with the pyramid goes to the heart of the question. What is this kind of archaeology for?

10:13 What he's planning on doing is sort of restoring it rather than conserving it. There was a Venice charter that was put together for this kind of thing for worldwide archaeological excavations, and this is, according to that, is going too far. You're creating something that wasn't originally there that the Egyptians hadn't touched, and sort of what you see now is basically what you get from thousands of years ago. 10:42 And Dr Mostafa Waziri's video from last month? It was really theatrical, the way that he was standing on the pyramid itself. And it was clear that it hadn't been done with any consultation with UNESCO, for one, because the Areas of World Heritage Site, perhaps more importantly, hadn't discussed it with any of the archaeologists. I think that it had something to do with creating some kind of buzz about. 11:12 what's going on. Buzz, it certainly did create. And Buzz is something Egypt needs right now, in particular to bring back the tourists who are essential to its economy. 11:29 The global story helps make sense of the headlines with expert analysis from BBC journalists around the world. Social media has essentially siloed a lot of young men and women into different algorithmic bubbles. Men and women inhabiting the same environment in the real world, but very different ones online. One global story at a time, in detail, every Monday to Friday from the BBC World Service. For those Russians who... 11:55 sympathise with Alexei Navalny, it will cast a very dark shadow. This looks like a message. Search for The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Part Three. The Pull of the Pyramids. 12:13 Tourism is very important to Egypt's economy, not only because it accounts for 12% of GDP and employs about 10% of the population, but also it is a source of foreign currency, a very important source of foreign currency. And Egypt has been going through a foreign currency crisis for the past two years. 12:43 She's the Cairo correspondent for the Financial Times and has been documenting Egypt's severe economic problems in recent years. It's all been exacerbated by the conflict in Gaza and the subsequent drop in revenues from shipping, which has been diverted from the Suez Canal, one of the main arteries of world trade. That makes bolstering tourism even more important. I think... 13:09 The government also believes that Egypt has not fulfilled its potential in terms of attracting tourists because Egypt has a lot to offer. It has beaches on the Mediterranean, on the Red Sea, very rich in Islamic monuments, in pharaonic monuments, in Christian heritage. It has desert tourism. It has oases. 13:38 Egypt can do more in terms of attracting tourists, so yes, it is very important. The pyramids are central to this strategy. While the authorities are guarded about the numbers that visit, millions do come to look on in awe at these extraordinary structures. But the Egyptian government has had to contend with a number of crises which have undermined the country's draw as a tourist destination. 14:08 If there's political instability, then it ripples through tourism. It impacts on visitor numbers. In 2015, for instance, plane carrying Russian tourists flying back from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt exploded in the air on takeoff, and that caused extensive damage to tourism for quite a number of years. 14:37 Tourism started to recover and then it was hit by Covid. To bolster tourism, Egypt has undertaken a number of restoration projects involving its monuments. Mustafa Waziri, the man behind the plan to reconstruct Menkaure's pyramid, was central to the project which pieced together a huge statue of Ramesses II at the Temple of Luxor. An obelisk now in Cairo's Tahrir Square was put back together from fragments found more than a hundred miles away. 15:07 And perhaps the biggest project of all, the GEM or Grand Egyptian Museum, aims to be the largest depository of ancient Egyptian artefacts in the world. The GEM project has been in the works for something like 20 years but it's now near completion or almost complete.