The tall figure was barely visible at first as it lay sideways in a muddy pit between two apartment buildings in northeast Cairo.

But as the sewage water was drained away and the dirt scraped off, the onlookers in the working class neighbourhood began to make out a recognisably royal frame.

And then - just a few yards from where women hang their family’s laundry and vendors sell street food - emerged a towering statue of what is believed to be Egypt’s most famous pharaoh.