Egypt: Mummies of 22 pharaohs are transported to their new “home” in Cairo

22 basilicas were magnificently transferred to the new museum mummies and 17 carnivores in Egypt. Its inhabitants Cairo witnessed a historic procession, watching the top cultural event.

For a long time, the competent authorities were preparing a procession worthy of history. The mummies and sarcophagi were transferred from the Archaeological Museum in Tahrir Square to the new museum,
area 135,000 sq.m. in the Fustat area of ​​old Cairo, relatively close to the Greek Orthodox monastery of St. George.

The city was illuminated, while there was special light in the buildings through which the ancient exhibits passed. Each mummy was placed in a special nitrogen capsule to ensure its protection and the capsules were transported on special vehicles designed to keep them stable without vibration.

The vehicles were black with gold motifs, to refer to the burial boats of antiquity. The exhibits accompanied chariots and horses, as the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities wanted to revive the royal way in which the country’s kings and queens were transported to their last home.

Around Tahrir Square, traffic was closed to both vehicles and pedestrians. Traffic was also prohibited along the 7 km route crossed by the procession.

The chariots started at 8 pm and arrived at the museum half an hour later, while gunfire could be heard. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was also at the museum, while officials from around the world are in Cairo.

Archaeologists have unearthed the mummies in two batches at the Deir el-Bahri “Dead Temples” complex in Luxor and the nearby Valley of the Kings in 1871. They have been housed in a small room since the 1950s.

However, the new museum provides facilities to control temperature and humidity. The decoration will refer to the underground tombs of the pharaohs, with their sarcophagi and personal belongings.

The procession consists of 22 royal Egyptian mummies along with 17 royal sarcophagi from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Dynasties, which belong to the New Kingdom, while among the mummies are those of kings Ramses II, Set A ‘, Segen Ra, Tuthmosis and Tuthmosis III, as well as queens Hatshepsut, Meritamen, wife of King Amendhotep, and Ahmos Nefertari, wife of King Ahmos.

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