Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has reported that 22 royal mummies will be transferred in a wonderful parade from their present location in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to their new permanent place in Fustat’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which is located near the Babylon Fortress and overlooks Ain Al Sira in the heart of the historic city of Fustat. This event will take place in Cairo on the 3rd of April. The announcement was made in an official statement, which noted that the parade will start at 6 PM on Saturday and will contain 22 mummies that belong to between the seventeenth and twentieth dynasties.
Mummies included in the parade
The royal mummies that will be transferred to the new museum are 18 mummies of pharaohs and four of the ancient Egyptian queens. Among them are the mummies of King Ramses II, Ramses III, Thutmose I, Seqnen Ra, Hatshepsut Amenhotep the First, Amenhotep II, Amenhotep III, Ahmose Nefertari, Merit Amon, Merenptah, Seti I, and Seti II. They will be accompanied by 17 royal coffins and the parade will move from Tahrir Square to the Nile Corniche.
The parade is going to start when the doors of the Egyptian Museum open to let the 22 mummies come out for the last time which will then be transferred in cars specially built for the parade with a logo and names of the royal mummies in Arabic, English, and Hieroglyphs. This parade will take place in the presence of numerous international ambassadors and the media. All the chosen mummies were strictly scanned and all set for the parade for the last 14 months as they have been in the exact same place welcoming tourists and visitors for about 120 years. It’s predictable that the parade will receive significant international recognition.
The celebration of the royal parade
21 gun salutes will take place in honor of the ancient kings and queens before the beginning of the parade to point out the exit of the cars from the main gate of the Egyptian museum. The cars will move in a circular shape in Tahrir Square itself around the obelisk which lies now in the middle of the square. At the same moment, the obelisk and the buildings around it will be lit up for the event.
This huge parade is going to feature military music and fireworks with a breathtaking artistic performance to be shown in celebration of the royal exit from the museum. A number of famous actors and celebrities will join the ceremony such as Sawsan Badr, Hussein Fahmy, Mona Zaki, and others. The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Anani reported that the parade of the 22 royal mummies will take about 40 minutes, while the whole event will last for 90 minutes, as there are many activities before and after the parade.
Sources said that rehearsals were planned for the event for more than two weeks and that tests were being carried out on everything including lighting, decorations, fireworks, and equipment.
The arrival of the mummies at NMEC
The 22 mummies will arrive in their permanent place in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization at the end of the parade, to stay inside a dedicated hall called the Royal Mummies Gallery. In an interview with the local media, Ahmed Ghoneim, head of the National Museum of Civilization reported that each mummy will be put in a sterile container for the sake of its safety.
The mummies will be restored for approximately 15 days with the usage of advanced technology inside the laboratory of the museum and special display cases will be set for them in the Royal Mummies Hall, enhanced in the same manner as the Valley of the Kings, the area of southern Egypt hosting their original tombs.
This event is the first of its kind in the world. The famous Egyptologist and Egypt’s former Minister of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass has stated that the Royal Mummies Parade is the country’s largest progression. He said that we wouldn’t have been able to promote Egypt in this way even if we paid a huge amount of money, especially as the whole world will witness this parade and look at Egypt with huge respect during the process of transporting the royal mummies. It is predictable that the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization will be one of the most important tourist attractions in the country after this parade.
Sherif Khalil is Owner of Dunes & Beyond. Dunes & Beyond offers luxury tours, Nile cruises and desert safaris in Egypt.
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