In Pics: Rehearsals of transporting Egypt’s royal mummies to the NMEC are ongoing

CAIRO – 3 December 2020:  Social media users  circulated photos documenting the preparations and equipment for transporting 22 royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the place for their permanent display in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fostat, while the government is finalizing the equipment for this huge event, which will be covered  by all local and international media.

The photos showed rehearsals of the procession for transporting the royal mummies, as the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities places the final preparations for this huge event, for a procession befitting the greatness of the ancient Egyptian history and civilization.

This is within the framework of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's directives to complete international archaeological and cultural activities, in a manner that is consistent with the greatness and nobility of the ancient Egyptian civilization, and highlights the country's ongoing efforts to develop and modernize Cairo and other ancient cities.

The number of mummies and coffins to be transported is 22 royal mummies and 17 royal coffins, dating back to the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties. 18 of the mummies are for kings, while 4 belong to queens. 

Among the mummies transferred are mummies of King Ramses II; King Seqenenre Tao; King Tuthmosis III; King Seti I; Queen Hatshepsut; and Queen Meritamen, the wife of King Amenhotep I; and Queen Ahmose Nefertari, the wife of King Ahmose I. 
 

The royal mummies will be transferred to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in a large march, in preparation for the opening of three halls that include the central exhibition hall and the mummies hall.

One of the vehicles prepared for the major event - Social Media

Professor Moamen Othman, head of the museums sector and a member of the museum's exhibiting committee, said that the main exhibition hall includes a variety of artifacts, including a group of belongings of an ancient Egyptian priest from the New Kingdom, in addition to statues of servants from the Old Kingdom kneading and baking. 

The main hall also exhibits a group of colorful wooden statues of deities of Amenhotep II reign, as well as a set of pots and amulets of king Thutmose IV made of blue faience, a papyrus and a copy of the "Book of the Dead" from the late era, a wooden door that belongs to an ancient Egyptian engineer, and a statue of the ancient Egyptian writer made of red granite along with his writing tools, inks and brushes. 
 

Minister's Advisor for Museum Display Mahmoud Mabrouk added that one of the most important artifacts that adorn this hall is the breastfeeding statue and the birth plate from the era of the New Kingdom. 
 

Another vehicle prepared for the major event - Social media

Additionally, a part of the oldest skeleton of a mummy’s foot attached to a compensatory part made of wood, statues of the King Amenemhat III in the form of the Sphinx, a seated statue of the king Thutmose III, a statue of God Nilus from the Greco-Roman period, about 50 lanterns from the Islamic era, a mashrabiya and some of the stucco windows inlaid with colored glass removed from the Citadel. 
 

It is worth noting that the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization is one of the most important projects carried out in cooperation with UNESCO and is one of the largest museums of civilization in Egypt and the Middle East. 
 

Another vehicle - Social media

The museum highlights the richness and diversity of Egyptian civilization from prehistoric times to present through the various archaeological collections exhibited in the museum. 
 

Irina Bokova, former director-general of UNESCO, and the minister of tourism and antiquities opened a temporary exhibition hall in the museum in 2017.