Samy Magdy, Associated Press
Egypt held a gala parade on Saturday celebrating the transport of 22 of its prized royal mummies from central Cairo to their new resting place in a massive new museum further south in the capital.
The ceremony, designed to showcase the country’s rich heritage, snaked along the Nile corniche from the Egyptian Museum overlooking Tahrir Square to the newly opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in the Fustat neighborhood, where Egypt’s first Islamic capital was located.
The mummies were being transported in climate-controlled cases loaded onto trucks decorated with wings and pharaonic design for the hour-long journey from their previous home in the older Egyptian Museum. The vehicles were designed to appear like the ancient boats used to carry deceased pharaohs to their tombs.
Mahmoud Khaled / AFP via Getty Images
Twenty-two mummified members of ancient Egyptian royalty passed through
downtown Cairo in an awe-inspiring parade on Saturday. The event, which drew fanfare to the country s robust collections of antiquities in an elaborate procession, saw the mummies being relocated from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, about 3 miles away in nearby Fustat.
The event was dubbed The Pharaohs Golden Parade. Dancers, musicians and more accompanied the 22 mummies.
Mahmoud Khaled / AFP via Getty Images
The spectacle was named The Pharaohs Golden Parade and comprised 18 kings and four queens, including some of Egypt s most prominent rulers of the past. Among them was King Ramses II, one of Egypt s most famous Pharaohs, who reigned in 12th Century BC. He ruled the New Kingdom for 67 years and was renowned for signing the first known peace treaty, BBC reported.
Egypt royal mummies parade: national pride surges after historic procession
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Artists perform near pyramids in a video screened at a ceremony of a transfer of royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat. Reuters
Royal mummies are transported in a convoy from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat. Reuters
Performers dressed in ancient Egyptian costume march at the start of the parade of 22 ancient Egyptian royal mummies departing from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo s Tahrir Square. AFP
Egypt moves 22 Pharaonic mummies to new museum
Sun, Apr 04 2021 09:59:53 AM
Cairo, Apr 4 (IANS): Authorities have moved 22 Pharaonic mummies from the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in a festive parade known as The Pharaoh s Golden Parade .
The festivity started on Saturday evening with 22 ancient-styled vehicles especially designed for the event, each carrying the name of the mummy of the king or queen inside, moving from Tahrir Square and escorted by parades of chariots, motorcycles and men and women dressed in ancient Egyptian outfits, reports Xinhua news agency.
The royal 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.
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