The dig began in 2012 with a German-Egyptian team of archaeologists headed by Dietrich Raue from the University of Leipzig. The first sign of the colossus came on Tuesday when excavation workers uncovered the lower part of the statue’s chin.

Khaled al-Anani, Egypt’s antiquities minister, posted on Facebook that one of the researchers who found the statue called it “one of the most important archaeological discoveries.”

Anani also spoke to Reuters at the site of the statue’s unveiling. Here’s more from the wire service:

“The most powerful and celebrated ruler of ancient Egypt, the pharaoh also known as Ramses the Great was the third of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and ruled from 1279 to 1213 BCE. … His successors called him the ‘Great Ancestor.’

” ‘We found the bust of the statue and the lower part of the head and now we removed the head and we found the crown and the right ear and a fragment of the right eye,’ Anani said.

“On Thursday, archaeologists, officials, local residents, and members of the news media looked on as a massive forklift pulled the statue’s head out of the water.”

In addition to this statue, researchers also found part of a limestone statue of Pharaoh Seti II, Ramses II’s grandson. The statue has yet to be confirmed to be of Ramses II but archaeologists are pretty sure.

Once restored and its identity confirmed, it may be placed at the entrance of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is expected to open in Cairo in 2018.