In Egypt, 22 mummies are moving to a new place. They are driven through the streets of Cairo in a royal procession with horses and fireworks, on their way to the museum where they will soon be exhibited.
These are mummies of kings and queens from the New Kingdom, including Ramses II, Seti I and Ahmose-Nefertari. They lived between the 15th and 11th centuries BC. Around 1871, archaeologists discovered the mummies in the secret mortuary temples of Deir el-Bahari in Luxor and in the Valley of the Kings.
Royal parade
The finds have so far been on display at the Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square in Cairo, but today they move to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in Fustat, about 3 miles away.
Many people will follow this parade through the media, expects Daniel Soliman, curator of the Egypt collection at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. “It will be a very big parade, with performances by artists, fireworks, horses and gun salutes,” he said in the NOS Radio 1 News. “For Egyptians, this move of the forefathers is a real moment of national pride.”
Nitrogen
The ancient bodies are transported in capsules filled with nitrogen. The military trucks on which they lie are decorated with a decorative gold-colored hood and symbols that refer to Egyptian antiquity. “So they are moved in a royal procession,” says Soliman. The parade is broadcast by 400 television channels.
The authorities expect many people to come and see along the route. To keep the road clear, the roads between the two museums are therefore temporarily closed.
More space
So the mummies will soon be on display at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, which opened in 2017. The fact that the mummies are now going there is, according to Soliman, due to the size of the collection of the Egyptian Museum.
“Just about every square centimeter is in use there at the moment, it is completely filled with all kinds of objects. The extra space in the museum is nice for the visitor and the two collections stand out better.”
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