PerMedu

CAIRO — Egypt will soon witness a solemn procession in which 22 Pharaonic royal mummies are to be transported from their current exhibit in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to their new permanent display in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat. The move is expected to take place in the next few weeks.

The mummies date to the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties. They count 18 kings and four queens, including King Ramses II, King Thutmose III, King Seti I, Queen Hatshepsut and Queen Merit Amon, wife of King Amenhotep I, as well as Queen Ahmose Nefertari, wife of King Ahmose I.

On July 27, the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism announced that the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat had received 17 royal coffins to be restored in preparation for receiving the royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir.

Manal al-Ghannam, director of restoration at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, told Al-Monitor, “There is an Egyptian team working with the latest equipment to preserve, maintain and pack the mummies with the highest efficiency. The materials used are all safe and will not harm the mummies. Each mummy is examined and restored separately, taking into account several factors, including temperature, humidity, lighting and the surrounding environment of each of them. Each mummy is placed inside a nitrogen capsule with specific standards, and the transporting will be done inside specially designed boxes.”

“The team finished their work after about two and a half years, and the mummies are now ready for transportation,” she added.

The development of the National Museum of Civilization comes as part of a project to develop historical Cairo and turn it into a tourist attraction. The plan includes the development of the Cairo Citadel Aqueduct, Ain As-Sira Lake and Tahrir Square along with the establishment of the Rubiky industrial park and the elimination of slums.

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization is located in the historic city of Fustat — the first Islamic capital of Egypt after the conquest in 641 AD — covering ​​33.5 acres and overlooking Ain As-Sira Lake.

The museum’s foundation stone was laid in 2002. It is the first museum to be devoted to the entirety of Egyptian civilization. Its construction was completed in 2005 and it was partially opened to the public in 2017. More than 50,000 artifacts show the stages of Egyptian civilization from the earliest times to the modern era. The museum is coordinating with UNESCO on protecting and preserving Egypt's cultural heritage.

Moamen Othman, the head of the museums department at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, told Al-Monitor, “The Civilization Museum contains a large hall equipped with the latest technology to display the mummies. Each mummy will be displayed alongside its coffin and some distinct artifacts pertaining to the king and the ruling period, which is not feasible at the Tahrir Museum.”

The ambitious plans to transport all the mummies in a procession has some scientists concerned. Ibrahim Badr, assistant professor of archeology restoration at Misr University for Science and Technology, told Al-Monitor, “Dealing with mummies is difficult and very sensitive, so would be best to transport one or two mummies at most, not 22 mummies at once.”

The Egyptian Museum is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East. Inaugurated by Khedive Abbas Helmy II in 1902, it includes the largest collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities in the world, spanning from the predynastic period to the Greek and Roman eras.

Director Sabah Abdel Razek told Al-Monitor, “Work is underway to to display new items in the mummies hall of the Egyptian Museum, among them the Fayum portraits discovered in 1888, which are a collection portraits that were used to cover the faces of mummies, instead of masks, in the Roman era.”

He went on, “The Egyptian Museum will retain its visitors because it still contains important artifacts such as the Yuya and Thuya collection, the Akhenaten statue, the Queen Hatshepsut statue, the Khufu statue and the Khafre statue, among other rare and distinctive pieces.”

Othman said that the Egyptian Museum is cooperating with five European museums, including the Louvre and the Berlin Museum, on possible loans of antiquities.

Dec 2, 2020

In a major historical event, Egypt will transfer on Dec. 4 several royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in Cairo to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat. In a solemn procession, 22 royal mummies will be transported, including 18 kings and four queens.

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities had earlier this year moved 35,000 artifacts to the museum in Fustat. These included the breastfeeding statue and the birth plate from the era of the New Kingdom; a portion of the oldest skeleton of a mummy’s foot that was attached to a compensatory wood part; statues of King Amenemhat III in the form of the Sphinx; a seated statue of King Thutmose III; a statue of the god Nilus from the Greco-Roman period; 50 lanterns dating back to the Islamic era; a mashrabiya, which is an Islamic architecture oriel window enclosed with carved wood; and some stucco windows with colored glass that were removed from the Citadel.

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization also exhibits a variety of small statues, amulets made of blue vines, and a red granite statue of the Seated Scribe with his writing tools.

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization is one of the most important projects carried out in cooperation with UNESCO, to become one of the largest museums of civilization in Egypt and the Middle East. The museum encompasses all manifestations of the wealth and diversity of Egyptian civilization from prehistoric times to the present day. In 2017, Irina Bokova, who was then the director-general of UNESCO, had inaugurated with the then Egyptian minister of tourism and antiquities a temporary exhibition hall in the museum.

Mohammed al-Kahlawi, head of the General Union of Arab Archaeologists, told Al-Monitor, “Egypt is seeking to tap [into] this royal procession of mummies from the Egyptian Museum to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat to promote Egyptian tourism. But the most important thing is to keep the mummies from sustaining any damage during their transfer. All necessary measures must be taken to preserve their integrity. Add to this, the celebration and procession should rise up to this historical event.”

Kahlawi said these mummies are an added value to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization because they have great scientific and archaeological value and will attract tourists. “The General Union of Arab Archaeologists refuses that Egyptian antiquities be displayed at exhibitions abroad with the aim to collect foreign currency, as their transfer abroad exposes them to danger. This happened in an exhibition in Japan when an earthquake affected all the displayed antiquities. A piece of antiquity must always be displayed on its original site.”

For his part, archaeologist and former minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass told Al-Monitor that the transfer of the royal mummies is a global event that will dazzle the world. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be receiving the royal mummies upon their arrival at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, he added.

Transferring the mummies to a new location is a positive move, Hawass says, explaining that each mummy will be displayed alongside the statue of the kings and embalming materials.

Sabah Abdel Razek, director-general of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, explained to Al-Monitor that the transfer of royal mummies will be attended by state leaders and public figures, and the event will be reported in all local and foreign media outlets.

The kings and queens of the New Kingdom (18th to 20th dynasties) were buried in their tombs in Theban Necropolis, but the contents of most of these tombs were looted at the end of the 20th dynasty.

Information on the stolen artifacts was collected during the trials of the thieves. Later, priests of the 21st dynasty wrapped the royal mummies — whose tombs were looted and their gold flakes removed — in scrolls and placed them in their own coffins and in new coffins.

Abdel Razek said mummies and looted treasure were reburied in two caches. In a bid to prevent further desecration and looting, priests of the 21st dynasty moved around 40 royal mummies to a tomb known as the Royal Cache located next to Deir el-Bahri, in the Theban Necropolis.

This Royal Cache was discovered in 1881. It contained royal mummies, some of which are now displayed in the Egyptian Museum, including Seqenenre, Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Thutmose III, Seti I, Ramses II, Ramses III, Ramses IX and the queens of Ahmose-Nefertari.

The second Royal Cache was found in one of the side rooms in the tomb of Amenhotep II in 1898. It included the mummies of Amenhotep II, Siptah, Seti II, Ramses IV, Ramses V and Ramses VI.

Abdel Razak said the 22 royal mummies to be transferred to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization belong to the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties.

These are the mummies of King Seqenenre Tao II, Queen Ahmose Nefertari, Queen Meritamen, King Amenhotep I, King Tuthmosis I, King Tuthmosis II, Queen Hatshepsut, King Tuthmosis III, King Amenhotep II, King Tuthmosis IV, King Amenhotep III, Queen Tiye (the Great Royal Wife of the Amenhotep III), King Seti I, King Ramses II, King Merenptah, King Seti II, King Siptah, King Ramses III, King Ramses IV, King Ramses V, King Ramses VI and King Ramses IX.

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.

CAIRO - 18 December 2029: Dr. Khaled El-Enany, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, held a meeting at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, with representatives of the ministries of defense, interior, security agencies, the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and the company organizing the transfer of the royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, In order to follow up the necessary procedures and final touches for the transfer process.

During the meeting, the procedures for organizing the traffic on the route of the royal mummies parade from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization were discussed.

The meeting also discussed the details of the vehicles that will be used in transportation and some technical issues that must be available during the transport, in order to hold a big majestic global event that is worthy of the grandeur of our ancestors and the unique ancient Egyptian civilization.

22 royal mummies will be transferred, including 18 mummies for kings, and 4 mummies for queens, including the mummies of King Ramses II, King Seknen Ra, King Thutmose III, King Seti I, Queen Hatshepsut, and Queen Merit Amon, wife of King Amenhotep I And Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, wife of King Ahmose.