A mural in Cairo's Tahrir Square, which depicted Pharaoh Tutankhamun and Queen Nefertiti with dark skin, was painted over last month. The 66-metre-long artwork was removed from public view shortly before Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Cairo.
The painting was created by the volunteer youth group Rasmet Basma as part of 40 murals commissioned to enhance the city for President Xi's arrival. However, its portrayal of the historical figures with dark skin sparked a strong reaction, with some Egyptians viewing it as promoting Afrocentric claims regarding the origins of the Pharaohs.
Ahmed Moussa, the 22-year-old founder of Rasmet Basma, confirmed that the Cairo governorate requested the mural be painted over. He stated that the team used a golden-bronze tone which, at night, made the faces appear dark-skinned, and admitted to not consulting archaeology and art specialists. Egypt's former antiquities minister, Zahi Hawass, criticised the lack of expert oversight for such a significant site and called claims linking ancient Egyptian civilisation to sub-Saharan Africa "nonsense."
Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo, described Afrocentric claims as "pseudoscience," noting that Egyptian society has always been ethnically diverse. Walid Mahmoud, an AI researcher, cautioned against uncritically accepting content generated by AI tools like ChatGPT, especially concerning cultural identity, as they reflect widely shared online information rather than factual accuracy.