São Paulo – The mummies of 18 kings, four queens and 17 royal sarcophaguses were moved into a new museum in Egypt on Saturday (3), in a procession featuring a light show that marked the official launch of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization on the same day.
The website of newspaper Arab News reported that the procession lasted over four hours, starting at 5 pm, starting at the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square and covering major Cairo roads. It aired live on 18 different international channels.
Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and a group of international figures were in attendance. Arab News said the parade featured actors clad in pharaonic attire and representatives from archaeological sites in Luxor, Aswan, and the pyramids who “carried messages in different languages inviting tourists to visit Egypt.”
The action was designed to attract global attention to tourism in Egypt and to the new museum. The Ministry of Tourism adorned the gates of the new venue with pharaonic images and symbols, along with colored lighting.
The former minister of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, noted that the procession would be viewed by people around the world, showing “the magic of mummies,” he told Arab News.
The incumbent minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled Al-Anani, said the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization tells the story of the Egypt from prehistoric times until the present. The venue cost over EGP 2 billion, he said.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
