The convoy will transport 18 kings and four queens from the Egyptian Museum to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
A grand parade will see 22 ancient Egyptian royal mummies in specially designed capsules transported through the capital Cairo to a new museum house.
The convoy will transport 18 kings and four queens – mostly from the New Kingdom – on Saturday from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in central Cairo to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, about 3 miles to the southeast.
Authorities are blocking roads along the Nile for the elaborate ceremony, designed to spark interest in Egypt’s rich antique collections as tourism has almost entirely stagnated due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Each mummy will be placed in a special nitrogen-filled capsule to provide protection, and the capsules will be transported on carts designed to rock them and provide stability, Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass said.
“We chose the Museum of Civilizations because we want, for the first time, to exhibit the mummies in a civilized way, in an educated way, and not for fun as they were at the Egyptian Museum”, he said. -he declares.
Archaeologists discovered the mummies in two lots in the Deir el-Bahari mortuary temple complex in Luxor and in the nearby Valley of the Kings from 1871.
The oldest is that of Seqenenre Tao, the last king of the 17th dynasty, who reigned in the 16th century BC and is said to have suffered a violent death.
The parade will also include the mummies of Ramses II, Seti I and Ahmose-Nefertari.
Fustat was the site of the capital of Egypt under the Umayyad dynasty after the Arab conquest.
“By doing this, with great pomp and under the circumstances, the mummies receive their due,” said Salima Ikram, Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo.
“These are the kings of Egypt, these are the pharaohs. And so, it’s a way of showing respect.