Cairo graces in preparation for the majestic procession today

The ancient kings of Egypt are on an "emergency summit" amid tight security

An unprecedented majestic procession transports 22 mummies of the kings and queens of ancient Egypt.

Reuters

Cairo’s streets are adorned today to receive an unprecedented majestic procession that transports 22 mummies of the kings and queens of ancient Egypt under the name of "Procession of Royal Mummies" from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, where they stayed for more than a century, to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

The mummies of 18 kings and four queens from the ages of the seventeenth to the twentieth pharaonic families will be transported on carriages decorated in the Pharaonic style bearing their names.

The journey, which extends over about seven kilometers, takes about 40 minutes, under heavy security, until it reaches the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, south of Cairo.

The royal procession is led by the Pharaonic King Sqnen Ra Taa, one of the kings of the seventeenth dynasty in the sixteenth century BC, and he was the ruler of Thebes (the shortest now), and he started the liberation war against the Hyksos.

The procession also includes some of the pharaohs kings and queens widely known to the masses of Egyptians, such as King Ramses II, the most famous king of the modern state (the Twentieth Dynasty) who ruled Egypt in the twelfth century BC for about 67 years.

Their mummies were found in the Deir el-Bahri cache, west of Luxor, in 1881.

Likewise, Queen Hatshepsut, one of the most famous female figures in ancient Egyptian history, declared herself Queen of the country in the Eighteenth Dynasty.

The mummy of Queen Hatshepsut was found in 1903 in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

New headquarters

Egyptian television broadcasts these ceremonies with live music performances.

The 22 mummies have not left the Egyptian Museum, located in Tahrir Square in central Cairo, since the beginning of the twentieth century.

Since the 1950s, they have been displayed next to each other in a small room, without historical explanation or explanation.

Today, the mummies will be placed in casings containing nitrogen, in conditions similar to those in display boxes, and the vehicles that carry them will be equipped with shock-absorbing mechanisms.

At its new headquarters in the Museum of Civilization, the mummies will be displayed in more modern boxes "for better control of temperature and humidity compared to the old museum," according to Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo who specializes in mummification.

"The Curse of the Pharaohs"

The Grand Egyptian Museum will house Pharaonic collections from the Tahrir Museum in central Cairo, including the famous treasure of the Pharaonic King Tutankhamun.

The tomb of Tutankhamun (fourteenth century BC) was discovered in 1922, and it contained the mummy of the young king and many things made of gold, alabaster and ivory.

Hawass comments on choosing the Museum of Civilization to display mummies instead of the grand museum, saying: “The large museum has King Tutankhamun, the star, and if you do not put the mummies in the Museum of Civilization, no one will go to it.”

The royal procession is causing a sensation on social networking sites, as many users of these platforms linked the tragic disasters that occurred in Egypt over the past week with the tag “# Curse of the Pharaohs” resulting from the transfer of mummies from their homes.

Zahi Hawass: The mummies will be beautifully presented

Egyptian Egyptologist Zahi Hawass said: "The mummies will be presented for the first time in a beautiful way, for educational purposes, not for excitement."

According to him, the terrifying mummies body was the 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."

Following the painful blows suffered by Egyptian tourism during years of instability following the 2011 revolution, Egypt is seeking to restore millions of visitors by promoting its new museums, such as the Museum of Civilization and the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Pyramids, which is scheduled to open this year.

The procession is led by the Pharaonic King Seqnen Ra Taa, governor of Luxor and the hero of the war against the Hyksos.

Communication sites linked the tragic disasters in Egypt last week with the tag “# Curse of the Pharaohs”.

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