22 Egyptian Royal Mummies Paraded Through Cairo

Twenty-two ancient Egyptian royal mummies were paraded in a convoy through Cairo. The remains of 18 Egyptian kings and 4 queens were transported from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat. The “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade” was broadcast live on Saturday night on the country’s state-run television and on social media. They traveled in special vehicles designed to resemble the boats used to carry deceased pharaohs to their tombs, Al Jazeera reported. The parade was designed to encourage foreign tourists to return to Egypt, according to the report.

The new museum, where the mummies will be displayed in a more grand setting, was inaugurated on Saturday. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was at the museum to greet the arrival of the mummies; he was joined by the head of the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO and the head of the World Tourism Organization.

The mummies were originally buried some 3,000 years ago in secret tombs near the southern city of Luxor. The tombs were first excavated in the 19th century.