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An unprecedented parade of 22 mummies of kings and queens of ancient Egypt, among which are Ramses II and Hatshepsut, will tour the streets of Cairo on Saturday night to join the new abode of the pharaohs, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC).
The seven-kilometer journey between the Cairo Museum, where mummies have been resting for more than a century, and the NMEC will last about 40 minutes, aboard pharaonic-style chariots, under high police surveillance.
The surroundings of Tahrir Square, where the historical museum is located, will be closed “to vehicles and pedestrians” on Saturday night to make way for the procession that will begin at around 4:00 p.m. GMT, according to the Interior Ministry.
“The whole world will see it. They are 40 important minutes in the life of the city of Cairo “famous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass told AFP.
Since access to the parade is limited for security reasons, Egyptians will be able to watch it on television or online.
In chronological order, Pharaoh Seqenenre Tâa (16th century BC) will lead the way, closed by Ramses IX (12th century BC).
The event will feature musical performances from various Egyptian artists.
The NMEC, which occupies a large building south of Cairo, partially opened in 2017, will open its doors on April 4. But the mummies won’t be on public display until April 18.
The culmination
UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay, who will be present at the parade, said in a statement on Friday that the transfer of the mummies to NMEC was “the culmination of a long work to preserve and display them better.”
“Before our eyes parades the history of Egyptian civilization”added the leader of the UN organization, which participated in the creation of the NMEC.
Discovered near Luxor (south) from 1881, most of the 22 mummies had not left Tahrir Square since the early 20th century.
Since the 1950s, they have been exhibited in a small room, without clear museographic explanations.
The mummies will each travel within a special tank, with the sovereign’s name, and equipped with shock absorption mechanisms, in an envelope containing nitrogen to preserve them.
At NMEC, they will be exhibited in more modern drawers “for better temperature and humidity control than in the old museum,” Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University of Cairo, a specialist in mummification, told AFP.
They will be presented individually together with their sarcophagi, in a setting reminiscent of the underground tombs of the kings, with a biography and objects related to the sovereigns.
Curse of the pharaohs
After years of political instability linked to the popular revolt of 2011, which dealt a severe blow to tourism, Egypt is seeking to return visitors, in particular by promoting culture.
In addition to the NMEC, Egypt is due to inaugurate the Great Egyptian Museum (GEM) near the Pyramids of Guizeh, which will house pharaonic collections.
The grand parade, announced by authorities through online videos, caused a sensation on social media.
Under the hashtag in Arabic # curse_of_pharaohs, many Internet users associated the recent catastrophes that occurred in Egypt to a “curse” that would have been caused by the displacement of the mummies.
Within a week, Egypt experienced the blockage of the Suez Canal by a container ship, a train accident that caused 18 deaths in Sohag (south) and the collapse of a building in Cairo that killed at least 25 people.
The “curse of the pharaoh” had already been evoked in the 1920s after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, followed by the deaths considered mysterious by members of the team of archaeologists.
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