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On Saturday, several streets in the capital Cairo are closed: 18 kings and four queens of ancient Egypt will undertake a final journey to a new resting place.
The royal mummies, which have so far been housed in the Egyptian Museum, will be transported around the city in specially made capsules to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, writes the Al Jazeera television channel.
Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass says the capsules will be filled with nitrogen to ensure that the royal mummies are not damaged and that they lie in carriages designed to give them stability during the journey.
Most of the mummies that are moved on Saturday are pharaohs from the era known as the New Kingdom.
This era lasted from 1550 to 1069 BC. C., according to Store Norske Leksikon, a period in which Egypt became one of the most important great powers in the Middle East.
THE NEW RESTING PLACE: The final destination of the 22 kings of antiquity. Photo: KHALED DESOUKI / AFP
The mummies are transported seven kilometers through the Egyptian capital in what is known as the “Golden Parade of the Pharaohs.”
– We chose the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization because we want, for the first time, to show them in a civilized, polite way, and not for entertainment as they were in the Egyptian Museum, says Hawass.
Move Ramses the Great
At 8:00 p.m., the mummies leave the Egyptian Museum in chronological order, according to television images.
The oldest mummy first in the parade – Sekenenra Tao. He was the last king of the 17th Dynasty, the pre-New Kingdom era, and ruled southern Egypt about 3,600 years ago.
A giant television production has been launched to cover the parade. The actual coverage of the journey of the mummies is interrupted by artistic elements.
One feature runs through an indoor and outdoor dance number: in front of three pyramids, dancers sway, wearing costumes that will show how they were dressed in ancient times.
See more photos from the parade in the gallery below:
ON THE ROAD: Each of the mummies is in their own specially made car on the way to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
It was from 1871 that the mummies were found in two rounds in the Dayr al-Bahri tomb temple complex located near the Valley of the Kings.
The parade includes the mighty Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, in addition to the pharaohs Seti I and Ahmose-Nefertari.
MOVED: Ramses II is among the mummies that get a new home on Saturday. Photo: AP
Security forces are closely following the special event, NTB writes.
– By doing so, with great pomp and splendor, these mummies get what they deserve, says Egyptologist Salima Ikram of the American University of Cairo.
She adds:
– These are the kings of Egypt – these are the pharaohs. And this is a way of showing respect.
2020: Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed at least 59 coffins with mummies:
