IN PHOTOS: Egypt's spectacular Pharaohs' Golden Parade
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On April 3, Saturday, Egypt moved 22 of its prized royal mummies to their new home, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC), through a parade truly fit for royalty called the "Pharaohs' Golden Parade."
The spectacular parade made a seven-kilometer journey from the Egyptian Museum, near central Cairo's Tahrir Square, to NMEC, which is located in the ancient city of Fustat.
NMEC is a colossal, new museum further south of Cairo, which partially opened in 2017. It is said to showcase a collection of 50,000 artefacts and is one of the new museums in the country, aside from the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The 22 royal mummies that were transported were mostly from the New Kingdom, which ruled Egypt around 1539 B.C. to 1075 B.C..
They were originally buried in secret tombs in the Valley of Kings and the Deir el-Bahri site, near the southern city of Luxor, around 3,000 years ago and were first unearthed in the 19th century.
The Pharaohs' Golden Parade convoy consisted of 18 kings and four queens. Among the kings were King Ramses II (Ramses The Great), King Thutmose I, King Amenhotep II, King Siptah, and King Sety I. While some of the queens in the parade, were Queen Hatshepsut, Queen Merytamun, and Queen Tiye.
King Ramses II, also known as Ramses The Great, is the most popular pharaoh of the New Kingdom, who ruled for almost seven decades. He is best remembered for signing the first known peace treaty.
Meanwhile, Queen Hatshepsut, otherwise known as the Foremost of Noble Ladies, is one of the controversial rulers of Egypt. She became queen despite the fact that during her time, women didn't become pharaohs.
To keep the royal mummies protected from external conditions, they were transported in climate-controlled capsules filled with nitrogen.
Each royalty had a designated vehicle equipped with shock-absorbers for the mummy's protection. The roads along the Pharaohs' Golden Parade, were also reportedly repaved to ensure a smooth journey for the hour-long travel.
Each royal mummy's vehicle also bears the name of the king or queen inside it and is aptly adorned with golden pharaonic symbols and designs.
Roads along the Nile River in Cairo were shut down for the historic Pharaohs' Golden Parade.
The parade began with a performance from the choir and orchestra that started as solemn then progressed into goosebumps-inducing music.
The choir and orchestra continued performing for the rest of the parade, which definitely complemented the great visuals during the spectacle.
Some kids then ran toward the obelisk of Ramses II at the middle of Tahrir Square, which then lighted up, signaling the start of the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.
Actors or performers clad in ancient Egyptian costumes then appeared from inside the Egyptian Museum and marched all the way to the streets. There were also police escorts in motorcycles, policemen in horses, and men in chariots.
The highlight of the event, of course, was when the vehicles of the royal mummies finally emerged from the Egyptian Museum and began their journey from its old home to their new resting place.
Cannons at the NMEC welcomed the royal mummies' convoy with a 21-gun salute and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi stood at the museum entrance to receive them.
Officials from the United Nations' cultural agency UNESCO and the World Tourism Organization were also there to witness the one-of-a-kind event.
The elaborate, multi-million-dollar spectacle is Egypt's way of drumming up interest in its vast and rich collections of antiquities and simultaneously revive its tourism industry, which has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The newly transported ancient mummies will now be part of the Royal Hall of Mummies and will be showcased for public viewing beginning April 18.
