The mummified remains of 22 pharaohs, including Egypt’s most powerful ancient queen, are made to float through Cairo Saturday evening, in an eye-catching parade to a new resting place.
Under heavy security, the mummies were made on floats seven kilometres (four miles) across the city from the iconic Egyptian Museum to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation.
Named the “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade”, the 18 kings and four queens went in order, oldest first, each aboard a separate vehicle adorned in antique Egyptian fashion.
Both foot-travellers and vehicles were stopped from Tahrir Square, the site of the current museum, and other sections of the course.
Pictures of the smooth parade and an equally carefully choreographed opening ceremony were broadcast live on state television, to energizing music.
The mummies reached the grounds of the new museum to a 21-gun salute, after a short period than expected journey time of around half an hour.
“This grandiose spectacle is further proof of the greatness… of a unique civilisation that extends into the depths of history,” said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi just ahead of proceedings.
Seqenenre Tao II, “the Brave”, who reigned over southern Egypt some 1,600 years before Christ, was on the first chariot, while Ramses IX, who reigned in the 12th century BC, brought up the rear.
Another great warrior, Ramses II, who ruled for 67 years, and Queen Hatshepsut, the most powerful female pharaoh, were also on the short voyage. Emblazoned with the name of their allotted sovereign, the gold and black coloured carriages were fitted with shock absorbers for the trip, to ensure none of the precious cargos were accidentally disturbed by uneven surfaces.
‘Ameliorate cases’
Located near Luxor from 1881 onwards, interesting new details of the pharaohs’ lives — and deaths — are still developing.
A high-tech art of Seqenenre Tao II, involving CT scans and 3D images of his hands and long-studied skull fractures, indicating he was likely killed in an execution ritual, after being seized in battle.
For their advance through Cairo’s streets, the mummies were placed in special vessels filled with nitrogen, under conditions similar to their regular display cases.
The new resting place, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in the Fustat district of Old Cairo, consists of smooth, low-rise buildings topped with a pyramid amid extensive areas.
The mummies will experience 15 days of laboratory renovation before they are showcased individually in their new home, in an environment redolent of underground tombs. They will be accompanied by a brief biography.
In their new home, they will remain “slightly upgraded cases”, said Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. Temperature and humidity control will also be improved.
The “museum has what it takes to preserve (mummies), the best laboratories… it is one of the best museums we have,” Waleed el-Batoutti, adviser to the tourism and antiquities ministry, told state television.
‘Curse of the Pharaoh’
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation will open its doors to restricted exhibits from 2017 and will open fully on Sunday, before the mummies go on display to the general public two weeks later.
In the coming months, the country is due to inaugurate another new exhibition, the Grand Egyptian Museum, near the Giza pyramids. It too will house pharaonic collections, including the celebrated treasure of Tutankhamun.
Discovered in 1922, the tomb of the young ruler, who took the throne briefly in the 14th century BC, contained treasures including gold and ivory. A so-called “curse of the pharaoh” began in the wake of Tutankhamun’s unearthing in 1922-23.
A chief funder of the expedition, Lord Carnarvon, died of blood poisoning months after the tomb was opened, while an early visitor likewise died abruptly in 1923.
With the parade coming only days after several tragedies beat Egypt, some unavoidably thought reflected on social media about a new curse provoked by the latest move.
The past days have seen a deadly rail crash and a building collapse in Cairo, while global headlines were managed by the struggle to refloat the giant container ship MV Ever Given which blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week.
The mummies’ re-housing “marks the end of much work to improve their conservation and exhibition,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who was in Cairo for the parade.
“This raises emotions that go much further than the mere relocation of a collection — we will see the history of Egyptian civilisation unfold before our eyes.”
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