Egypt to Move Famous Ramses Statue in Cairo

CAIRO, Egypt -- A giant statue of Pharaoh Ramses II will be moved next month from a congested square in downtown Cairo to a more serene home near the Great Pyramids in a bid to save it from corrosive pollution, Egypt's antiquities chief said Monday.

Exhaust fumes from trains, cars and buses, as well as subway vibrations, are damaging the more than 3,200-year-old granite statue at Ramses Square, its home since the early 1950s, when it was taken from a temple at the site of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis.

The 125-ton statue _ a popular feature on postcards and guide books _ will become part of a new museum about a mile from the pyramids.

"We have to move that statue," antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said.