The Statue of Mertamen is a statue located in the city of Akhmim in Sohag Governorate, Egypt, and it is the largest statue of a woman in Egypt. It is famous among the people of the region as the statue of the bride. The statue is 12 meters high and weighs 31 tons.
Biography
The statue was discovered in 1981 in the city of Akhmim, next to the Al-Koum area under the ancient cemeteries, during excavation to build a religious institute. Where the statue of the princess was discovered, next to it was another small statue of her, and the remains of a huge, damaged statue of her father, Ramesses II, and another small statue, as well as a statue of the god Venus, “the goddess of love and beauty,” and some columns, and the remains of the walls of an ancient temple, and four wells containing water, dating back to the Roman era. The place was declared an archaeological area
The statue of the princess is now located in a residential area where the princess rests within the wall of the place where she was found. The governorate's Antiquities Authority confirmed that there is no intention to move the statue from its place, because the statue is linked to the place where it was found, and if a decision is issued to move the statue from its original place to any other area, the people and residents will reject it, given the statue's connection to the city, so that it has become a symbol of it and a source of attraction for tourism to the region.
The princess's statue consists of Limestone, its height is 13 meters, and its weight is 31 tons. The statue is considered one of the most beautiful works of the Ramesside era.
And when the statue of the princess was found, the lower part of her was not present, from the legs to the feet, and the seat was also fragmented, not supporting her body, so a new base was made for it. Through restoration and completion of the missing part, the princess is adorned with some jewelry carved from stones, where there is an engraving of two round earrings, and a wide necklace with multiple branches of gilded beads and bracelets, in addition to some roses that adorn the chest, and she holds in her hand a necklace representing the god “Manaat.”