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This Saturday (3), Egypt made a public stop in the streets of Cairo, with the exhibition of 22 mummies that were transported from one museum to another in the same city.
Egypt: 22 mummies are transported to a new museum in Cairo
The convoy transported 18 kings and 4 queens from the Egyptian Museum, in the center of the Egyptian capital, to the National Museum of Civilizations, which is about 5 kilometers away.
The stop, which closed some of the main roads in the city, began at 6:45 pm from Cairo (1:45 pm from Brasilia).
The pieces were transported through the streets that border the Nile River. The idea of the stop is to awaken the interest of tourists in the country’s antiques.
Strong car transports the mummy of Seqenenre Taa to the National Museum of Civilizations in Cairo – Photo: Khaled Desouki / AFP
Due to the restrictions imposed by Covid-19, tourism in Egypt has been greatly affected.
The 22 mummies were placed in special capsules, filled with nitrogen, to ensure their protection.
Image from April 3, 2021, of the Obelisk of Ramses II in Cairo, which has been renovated – Photo: Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters
According to archaeologist Zahi Hawass, the vehicles were also carefully chosen to give the artifacts stability.
“We choose [levar as peças para] the Museum of Civilization because we want, for the first time, to show the mummies in a civilized, polite way, and not just for fun, as was the case with the Egyptian Museum, ”says Hawass.
Egypt parades through the streets of Cairo with mummies of pharaohs
Mummies discovered in 1871
These mummies were discovered in 1871, at two archaeological sites. (one of them, the temple of Deir Al Bahari, where the city of Luxor stands today, and the other, near the Valley of the Kings, the main place where kings were buried in ancient Egypt)
The oldest of the 22 mummies is that of Seqenenre Tao, the last king of the 17th dynasty, who reigned in the 16th century BC. C. Tao is believed to have died violently.
The parade also includes the mummies of Ramses II, Seti I, and Ahmose-Nefertari.
VIDEO: Transfer of mummies becomes a parade for the public in Egypt
The museum that will house the pieces is in Fustat. The region was the capital of Egypt during the Umayyad dynasty, which ruled the civilization after the Arab conquest.
Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo, says transporting the pieces “with pomp” is a way to do them justice.
Pedestrians pass a sign announcing the stop where 22 mummies will be displayed in Cairo, Egypt, on April 3, 2021 – Photo: Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters
“These are the kings of Egypt, they are pharaohs, and this is a way of showing respect,” he said.
On social media there are texts that link the blockade of the Suez Canal and two recent tragedies in the country (a train accident and a fire) with the “curse of the pharaohs.”
The “curse of the pharaohs” was also mentioned in the press around 1920, after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, when members of the team of archaeologists died under mysterious circumstances.
