The Royal Mummies

01/04/2021

1. The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization is located in Fustat, the first capital of Egypt and

Islamic Africa, and part of Historic Cairo registered as a World Heritage Site of UNESCO.

The idea of establishing the museum began through an agreement signed with UNESCO in 1983,

and the foundation stone was laid in this genius site in November 2002. Work stopped in 2011,

and the temporary exhibition hall was opened in February 2017 in the presence of the former

Director-General of UNESCO.

The Museum of Egyptian Civilization is an integrated cultural complex, the only one of its kind in

the Middle East. It is built on an area of 135,000 square meters, and the display scenario of the

artifacts in the museum was supervised by anEgyptian Scenario Committee.

On April 3, the President inaugurated the Central Exhibition Hall of the museum which narrates the

history of Egypt from prehistoric times until today; and the Royal Mummies Hall, which is equipped

with state-of-the-art museum display technology. It is specially designed to preserve and showcase

mummies in the way that befits their greatness.

2. The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir

The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, which has been dazzling the world since its inauguration in 1902, is

undergoing a renovation and development process. A development project is being implemented

in cooperation with the European Union with an alliance of museums including five of the most

important museums in the world; namely the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, the Louvre in France,

and the British Museum in England, and the Egyptian Museum in Berlin in Germany, the National

Museum of Archeology in Leiden, Netherlands, in addition to the French Institute of Oriental

Archeology (IFAO) in Cairo, and the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning in Berlin.

Although the Royal Mummies have been transferred to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization,

other mummies will remain in the Museum. The Museum also displays the complete collection of

Yuya and Tuya, in addition to the golden collection of San El-Hagar that will replace the treasures of

Tutankhamun after being transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum, and many more of this unique

museum’s treasures. The museum’s general site has also been revamped; including the external

façades, the entrance, the outer walls, the museum garden and the fountain, and a new lighting

system for the façades has been improved.

Treasures of

3. Cairo

The biggest hero who embraced the “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade” was beautiful Cairo, which the

parade contributed to increasing its beauty after the development of locations along the route

of the parade, especially Tahrir Square. Tahrir Square was developed in cooperation between the

Ministry, the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and New Urban Communities and Cairo Governorate. The

obelisk of King Ramses II, which was transferred from San El-Hagar archeological site, now stands

tall adorning the Square, surrounded by the four Sphinx-headed rams that were transported from

Luxor. The area of Magra El-Ayoun and Ain El-Sira were also upgraded. All of this was done under

the supervision of the Prime Minister of Egypt.

4. The Royal Mummies

The main hero was “the Royal Mummies”. The parade included 22 mummies of great kings and queens

of Egypt from the 17th to the 20th dynasties of the New Kingdom. 18 kings and 4 queens made their final

journey to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. This was not the first journey of the mummies

of these kings and queens. The first time was about 3000 years ago , as most of these mummies were

transferred after being buried in their own tombs to two caches; the Deir el-Bahari cache and the tomb of

Amenhotep II in Luxor, in order to protect them from tomb robbers. After the two caches were discovered,

most of these royal mummies were transferred at the end of the 19th century to Bulaq Museum in Cairo,

then to the museum that was built in the annex of Khedive Ismail’s Palace in Giza, after that they were

transfered to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, then to the mausoleum of Saad Zaghloul in 1931, and then

they returned back to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir in 1936.

Preparations for the transfer of royal mummies began nearly two years ago, where a comprehensive study

was conducted for the condition of each mummy. The weak points in each mummy were discovered,

strengthened and restored by a team of highly skilled Egyptian restorers from the Ministry. Each mummy

was wrapped up using the latest scientific methods, and the transfer of the royal mummies was done

according to safe and secure procedures that have been carried out in accordance with standards used

internationally in transporting artifacts. The mummies were placed inside sterilization units, then loaded

onto vehicles that have been designed and equipped especially for this process to ensure the control of

vibrations in order to keep the mummies safe.