The authorities in Egypt moved as many as 22 mummies from the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC).
The 22 Pharaonic mummies were transported to the NMEC by the authorities in a remarkable parade known as “The Pharaoh’s Golden Parade”.
Pharaoh is the common title now used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty (c 3150 BCE) until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in 30 BCE.
The mummies were transported in ancient-like vehicles especially designed for the event.
The vehicles carried the names of the mummy of the king or queen inside.
The mummies belong to 18 kings and four queens from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties that ruled ancient Egypt over 3,000 years ago.
They include mummies of famous ancient Egyptian King Ramses II and Queen Hatshepsut.
“It is the only one of its kind in Egypt and the Middle East,” said Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al-Anani.
The mummies hall at the NMEC will be opened for visitors on April 18.
The 22 royal mummies of the Pharaoh’s Golden Parade were discovered in two cachettes, the first of which was unearthed in 1881 and the second in 1898, both in Upper Egypt’s monument-rich province of Luxor.
“The remarkable and magnificent parade shows that Egypt celebrates and honours its ancestors,” Khaled Gharib, professor of Egyptology at Cairo University, told Xinhua after the parade.