In a major historical event, Egypt will transfer on Dec. 4 several royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in Cairo to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat. In a solemn procession, 22 royal mummies will be transported, including 18 kings and four queens.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities had earlier this year moved 35,000 artifacts to the museum in Fustat. These included the breastfeeding statue and the birth plate from the era of the New Kingdom; a portion of the oldest skeleton of a mummy’s foot that was attached to a compensatory wood part; statues of King Amenemhat III in the form of the Sphinx; a seated statue of King Thutmose III; a statue of the god Nilus from the Greco-Roman period; 50 lanterns dating back to the Islamic era; a mashrabiya, which is an Islamic architecture oriel window enclosed with carved wood; and some stucco windows with colored glass that were removed from the Citadel.
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization also exhibits a variety of small statues, amulets made of blue vines, and a red granite statue of the Seated Scribe with his writing tools.
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization is one of the most important projects carried out in cooperation with UNESCO, to become one of the largest museums of civilization in Egypt and the Middle East. The museum encompasses all manifestations of the wealth and diversity of Egyptian civilization from prehistoric times to the present day. In 2017, Irina Bokova, who was then the director-general of UNESCO, had inaugurated with the then Egyptian minister of tourism and antiquities a temporary exhibition hall in the museum.
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