Cairo to see procession of pharaonic mummies

Twenty-two royal pharaonic mummies are being transferred "in a majestic procession" through Cairo from their longtime home at the Egyptian Museum to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in historic Fustat, possibly as early as September. The partially-opened museum is the first in the country to be devoted to all of Egyptian civilization.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi ordered what he described as the "majestic procession" in 2019, according to Egypt Today.

The mummies bound for the new National Museum 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.

The exhibits at the much bigger and still-unfinished Grand Egyptian Museum near the Pyramids of Giza are confined to artifacts of ancient Egypt. They include the King Tutankhamun collection.

The foundation stone of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization was laid in 2002 in Fustat, the first Islamic capital of Egypt after the conquest in 641 AD. 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.

Six thematic galleries cover: the Dawn of Civilization; The Nile; Writing; State and Society; Material Culture; Beliefs and Thinking and the Gallery of Royal Mummies.