Twenty-two Egyptian pharaohs will parade through the streets of Cairo today in a parade never seen before in the history of the country: at 18:00 o'clock (same time in Italy), the mummified remains of 18 kings and four queens of Ancient Egypt they will be transferred aboard as many decorated wagons from their current home - the Egyptian Museum - to their new resting place, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.
Preparations are underway for what has been renamed the Golden Parade of the Pharaohs: Tahrir Square, where the Egyptian Museum is based, will be closed to both traffic and pedestrians and security forces will be deployed along the entire route of seven kilometers that will be covered in just over half an hour.
The mummies, which for the most part have been resting undisturbed in the current museum for over 100 years, will parade in order of age: starting with the oldest.
"The whole world will be watching," said archaeologist and former Minister of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, who will comment on the event live on state television.
"These are an important 40 minutes in the life of the city of Cairo," he added.
The 'procession' will be led by the mummy of Seqenenra Ta'o (also known as Tao II), a seventeenth dynasty ruler nicknamed 'the Brave' who reigned over Upper Egypt about 1,600 years before Christ, while the last chariot will be that of Ramses IX, pharaoh of the twentieth dynasty of Egypt who reigned in the 12th century BC.
