The royal mummies procession is a global event that took place on Saturday, April 3, 2021, which includes the departure of 22 royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum located in Tahrir Square in the center of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to their new location at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, east of Cairo.
The mummies date back to the eras of families from the seventeenth to the twentieth, and among them are the mummies of kings Ramesses II, Seqnan Ra, Thutmose III, Seti I, Ramses IX, Ramesses VI, Ramesses V, Thutmose III, Queen Hatshepsut, Queen Meret Amun, wife of King Amenhotep I, and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, wife of King Ahmose I.
The entire ceremony was shown on the YouTube channel of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Itinerary
The procession began moving from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, then passed in front of the obelisk of King Ramses II in Tahrir Square, then headed to Simon Bolivar Square in Garden City, then to the Nile Corniche until it reached Qasr al-Aini, and from there to the wall of the stream of eyes, then to the Nilometer in the kindergarten, then to Fustat, to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, where the mummies will be displayed.
Mummies take part in the procession
The number of mummies participating in the procession reached 22 royal pharaonic mummy, eighteen mummies of kings and four mummies of queens, and the chariots transporting them moved in the order of the rule of kings as follows:
King Saqnun Ra Taa
Queen Ahmose-Nefertari
King Amenhotep the First
Queen Meritamun
King Thutmose I
King Thutmose II
King Hatshepsut
King Thutmose III
King Amenhotep II
King Thutmose IV
King Amenhotep III
Queen T
King Seti I
King Ramses II
King Merneptah
King Seti II
King Siptah
King Ramses III
King Ramses IV
King Ramses V
King Ramses VI
King Ramses IX
Events
The parade began at eight o'clock in the evening (6 o'clock in the evening GMT) with musical and light shows in the areas of the procession's passage. The convoy presented motorcycles, as the journey of about seven kilometers began between the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat. The mummies proceeded according to the chronological order of the reigns of kings and queens, as previously, and King Saqnan Ra of the seventeenth Egyptian dynasty led the procession of kings, and King Ramesses IX of the twentieth Egyptian dynasty was behind him.
The mummies were carried on carts decorated with pharaonic drawings and inscriptions, and equipped with an atmosphere containing nitrogen, so that the mummies were in conditions suitable for transportation, and each cart bore the name of the king in it in Arabic, English, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Under heavy security, the procession left a century-old museum, accompanied by extras in pharaonic costume and chariots, to the beat of a brass band and to the backdrop of symphonic music. The Pharaonic chariots arrived at the new museum near 8:30 pm, and the artillery fired twenty-one rounds, and they were received by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The procession took about 40 minutes, covering seven kilometers.
The ceremony included musical performances by Egyptian artists. "The whole world will see this royal procession," Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass told AFP. "Forty minutes will be important in the life of the city of Cairo." Before the start of the show, the celebrations opened with a song by Egyptian singer Mohamed Mounir, and Egyptian actors, including Ahmed Helmy, Mona Zaki and Tunisian Hind Sabry, read texts about Egyptian civilization. Earlier in the evening, President El-Sisi visited the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, accompanied by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, to view some of the collections.
Preparations for the procession took a total of four months.
Speech of the President of the Republic
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi wrote on Twitter on this occasion: “With great pride, I look forward to receiving the kings and queens of Egypt after their journey from the Egyptian Museum in Liberation to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. This majestic scene is new evidence of the greatness of this people, the guardian of this unique civilization that extends in the depths of history.”
He added, “I invite all Egyptian women, men and women, and the whole world to follow this unique event, inspired by the spirit of the great ancestors, who preserved the homeland and created a civilization that all humanity can be proud of, so that we can complete our path that we started… the path of construction and humanity.”
the goal
The event aims to promote tourism, culture and security, and to heal the wounds of the Egyptian revolution in 2011. Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, who specializes in mummification, told AFP (AFP): “The new building that provided the mummies aims to display them in better conditions. The mummies will be displayed in more modern boxes for better control of temperature and humidity compared to the old museum.” The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, the former French Minister of Culture, said during an official visit to Egypt, “Seeing the procession of these mummies entering the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, and knowing that they have become more accessible to the world from now on, is the culmination of the relentless efforts aimed at preserving and displaying them in a better way.” It was behind the drafting of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of World Heritage concluded in 1972.».
The mummies will be presented individually alongside their coffins, simulating the underground tombs of kings, accompanied by biographies and x-rays of some of them. Zahi Hawass, the Egyptian Egyptologist, says: “The mummies will be presented for the first time in a beautiful way, for educational purposes and not for the sake of excitement.” According to him, “the frightening appearance of mummies was a reason in the past for few visits, and he says, “I will never forget when I took (Princess) Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II's sister, to the museum: she closed her eyes and ran away.
