Egypt saw a parade of its pharaohs (+ photos and video) – rebel youth

In Cairo, on Saturday afternoon, April 3, just after sunset, in an unprecedented and sacred Baronic procession, 18 kings and four queens of ancient Egypt marched in unprecedented fashion: 22 mummies marched through the streets of their empire, including the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NME). Achievement Ramses II and Hutchepsut will be the Pharaohs’ new abode, museum officials said.

Following the course of the Nile, a group of uniformed drummers set out on a tour of what would become the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the new home of the mummies, located in Fustat, the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule. Today in the south of Cairo.

Inside the baronic-style chariots and under strict police surveillance, 18 pharaohs and four queens of ancient Egypt marched from the Cairo Museum to the National Egyptian Museum of Civilization located in Tahrir Square.

The streets of Cairo were full of lights and history. Photos: Reuters

In the so-called Golden Parade, each traveled inside a special tank, enclosed with nitrogen to protect them.

A journey of about seven kilometers between the Cairo Museum, where mummies have been resting for more than a century, and the NMEC lasted about 40 minutes, with baronic-style chariots and strict police surveillance, but with a band of 120 musicians and a choir of a hundred singers to the rhythm as they passed.

Tahrir Square, where the historic museum is located, was recently decorated with an ancient square and four goat-headed zebras, which were closed to “vehicles and pedestrians” to make way for the procession, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said.

The 18 pharaohs and the four queens of ancient Egypt were carefully carried inside baronic-style chariots and under strict police surveillance. Photos: Reuters

The whole world will see it. They are 40 important moments in the life of Cairo, ”Zahi Hawass, a prominent Egyptian archaeologist, told AFP.

The procession ended inside the National Egyptian Museum of Civilization, where mummies with 21 artillery shots were taken by the country’s president, Abdebade al-Sisi.

“This majestic scene is a new testament to the greatness of these people, the guardian of this unique civilization that pervades the depths of history,” al-Sisi wrote in a message posted on his social media network.

Access to the march was restricted for security reasons, so the Egyptians were able to watch it on television or online.

Chronologically, Pharaoh Sekenenre Thea (16th century BC) led the march, which the organizers explained was closed by Ramses IX (12th century BC).

Occupying a large building south of Cairo, which was partially opened in 2017, NMEC will open its doors on Sunday, April 4, but the company said the mummies will not be disclosed to the public until April 18, as officially announced. .

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who attended the parade, said in a statement that replacing the mummies was “the culmination of a long work to preserve and enhance them.”

“The history of Egyptian civilization is unfolding before our eyes,” said the head of the UN body that participated in the formation of the NMEC.

Photos: Reuters

Discovered near Luxor (south) beginning in 1881, most of the 22 mummies have not left Tahrir Square since the early 20th century.

The mummies each traveled inside a special tank, named after the sovereign and fitted with shock-absorbing mechanisms, in an envelope containing nitrogen to protect them.

At NMEC, they will be “displayed in modern drawers to control temperature and humidity better than in the old museum,” said Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptian at Cairo University in the US, and AFP, a mummification expert.

According to the El Pas newspaper, the Egyptian Ministry of Archeology has opened several museums in recent months, specifically targeting locals, and is one of the National Egyptian Civilization Museums that officials plan to open from 2021.

The latter is part of its commitment to the development and attraction of the historic Cairo region, especially with the parade of mummies, which is attracting the world’s attention at a time when the country’s main tourist destination is collapsing as a result.

Built very close to the pyramids of Giza, the Great Egyptian Museum is the largest archaeological museum on the planet when it opens its doors.

Pharaoh’s curse

For its part, TELAM recalled the myths and legends that, under the hashtag Arabic #maldición_de_faraones, when the parade of mummies promised to have a major impact on social networks, many Internet users associated the recent disasters with a “curse” in Egypt.

Within a week, Egypt was besieging the Suez Canal with a container ship, a train crash that killed 18 people in Sohag (south) and the collapse of a building in Cairo killed at least 25 people.

The “Curse of the Pharaoh” had already been triggered in the 1920s after the discovery of Tottenham’s tomb, after which deaths were considered mysterious by archaeologists.