Egyptian mummies in transit through Cairo on their way to the new museum

The convoy transported 18 kings and four queens, mostly from the First Kingdom, from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo to the National Museum of Egypt.

Authorities closed the roads along the Nile for a legitimate ceremony to spark interest in Egypt's rich antiquities, when tourism virtually completely stalled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

As the royal mummies had arrived at the museum, which was officially inaugurated on Saturday, the cannons fired a salute from 21 guns. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stood beside him as the mummies folded into vehicles decorated with golden pharaoh motifs.

Each mummy was placed in different nitrogen-filled capsules in order to come up with a specific protection, admitted the Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass.

"We chose the Museum of Civilization because we chose to display the mummies in a civilized way, in an educated way, and never for entertainment, as it was at the Egyptian Museum," admitted Hawass.

Archaeologists have encountered mummies in two batches at the intricate tomb temples of Deir Al Bahari in Luxor and the nearby Valley of the Kings from 1871.

The oldest of these is Seqenenre Tao, Closi, king of the 17th Dynasty, who reigned in the 16th century BC and is believed to have suffered a violent death.

The mummies of Ramesses II, Seti I, and Ahmose-Nefertari were also transported.

Fustat, the site of the recent museum, was the seat of the Egyptian capital under the Umayyad Dynasty after the Arab conquest.

"Lying in splendor, surrounded by historical atmosphere and worship, mummies get what they deserve." - said Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University of Cairo.