A 3,200-year-old statue of Pharaoh Ramses the Second was being moved to a new home in Egypt.

Thousands gathered to watch it being transported from the centre of Cairo to a site near the Great Pyramids, to stop damage from pollution. A museum in its new location is due to open in five years. The decision to move was made after damage from the atmosphere and vibrations by underground trains. The Ramses monument was originally taken from a temple at the site of the Ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis in the 1950s and placed in a congested square in central Cairo. Despite the five-year wait for the Grand Museum of Egypt’s opening, the chief of antiquities insisted the decision to move the statue now had to be made.