European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 25, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Three Small tombs that have Long sat in the shadows of this great Pyramid of pharaoh Cheops Are the focus of a new open air  opening 3 More pyramids to tourists by Milf Mann the associated press the three Queens of pharaoh Cheops whose squat pyramids Nestle at the foot of his huge famous one finally Are being rescued from obscurity. Their tombs Are just a few feet from the great Pyramid on Egypt s Giza plateau but have been virtually ignored for 4,500 years. That will change this fall. The egyptian antiquities organization is making the three burial places focal Points of an open air museum on the Eastern Side of the great Pyramid. It is intended to re create the Aura of ancient times. Vehicles will be banned. Tourists will walk among the monuments Many newly dug from desert Sand that covered them for most of this Century. The Queens pyramids Are among Many tombs and other monuments being opened to the Public for the first time. They Are being joined by other recent discoveries a including nearly intact statues of a servant girl and the wife of one of the Tomb owners. Many of these statues were placed in the tombs to care for the owners in the afterlife. Antiquities officials Hope offering tourists new things to see on the Giza plateau and elsewhere will keep them in Egypt longer and help revive the sagging tourist Trade. Zahi harass antiquities chief of the pyramids area watched As a visitor Clung to a rope and descended a darkened slope into the burial chamber of one of Cheops Queens Quot what an adventure Quot he said. Quot it won t be that scary. Well have a wooden ladder by the time the Pyramid opens. And lights. But it s something  excavators and egyptology its Hope to meet an oct. 1 deadline for the opening in time for the expected first Rush of tourists since the persian Gulf War Devastey the tourism Industry. More than 90 of Egypt s pyramids have been identified. Quot a number belonged to Queens but we be never thought to open them before Quot harass said. A visit to a Queen s Pyramid would Appeal to tourists too weary or afraid to make the winding difficult journey through and up the Cheops Pyramid whose base covers 13 acres. The Standard Cheops tour takes about an hour a visit to a Queen s Pyramid can be managed in five minutes up and Down. Statues of a servant girl right and of the wife of a Tomb owner found near the Giza pyramids. Cheops Queens remain As mysterious As their pharaoh. Historians have few facts but Queens of ancient Egypt held great Power particularly those with family connections to the pharaoh and the court of Cheops provided a wealth of intrigues. A Century after the pyramids were built gossips were conjuring up lurid tales of bad King Cheops his naughty wives and their shenanigans. In time history and legend became so intermingled that nobody knows for sure the names of the Queens or which was buried where. Some egyptology its believe the Queens weren t even buried in the three tombs which were robbed in Antiquity. The pyramids had disintegrated to Little More than piles of rubble and workers Are repairing them for the debut. The first Pyramid is thought to be that of the favorite Queen Meri tites who might have been the pharaoh s half sister. Storytellers said the second belonged to a Queen who turned to prostitution to pay for its stones. The third is attributed to Queen he Nutsen perhaps another half sister of Cheops. One Queen is said to have been Blond and of libyan origin. Hav Yass believes the third Pyramid actually belonged to Cheops Mother Het spheres. Quot later when trouble came priests dug her up her things with her for reburial in a safer place Quot he said pointing to the door at the top of the Steep entryway to the burial chamber. A 1925 expedition from Harvard University and the Boston museum found Het spheres valuables at the Bottom of a Shaft nearby. Her furniture and personal items Are displayed in the Cairo museum. The Shaft where they were found is among the Sites being opened. 24 stripes Magazine july 25, 1991 and