Ancient mummies are paraded through the streets of Cairo

Daily US Times: On Saturday, ancient mummies of Egypt’s royal pharaohs emerged from their resting places and were paraded through the streets of capital Cairo to a new home.

It sounds like the plot of a movie, but was part of a lavish celebration of the country’s history and a project to relocate some of Egypt’s greatest treasures to a new high tech facility.

The 22 mummies, including Ramses the Great, were part of “The Pharaoh’s Golden Parade,” a highly anticipated event organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The parade route took place between the mummies old location Egyptian Museum, to their new home, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in al-Fustat, Egypt’s first Islamic capital.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Twitter: “This majestic scene is new evidence of the greatness of [the Egyptian] people, the guardian of this unique civilization that roots back into the depth of history.”

According to Egypt-run Ahram Online, along with the 22 royal Egyptian mummies, 17 royal sarcophagi were also transported in the procession, which moved along the Nile River and was accompanied by chariots and horses.

Sarcophagi are stone coffins often adorned with inscriptions and sculptures.

Among the mummies are those of Seqenenre, kings Ramses II, Seti I, Tuthmosis III, in addition to four queens: Meritamun, Hatshepsut, Ahmose-Nefertari and Tiye.

The parade was joined by a military band and saluted by 21-gun salutes. The ancient mummies were transported on special decorated vehicles with their names inscribed in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs as well as in Arabic.

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