CAIRO — Downtown Cairo got here to a close to standstill Saturday evening as 22 mummies had been moved from a museum the place that they had resided for greater than a century to a new house, transported atop custom-made autos in a glittering, meticulously deliberate procession.
The fanfare — broadcast reside on state tv and full with a navy band, rows of dancers and a host of Egyptian A-list celebrities — served as each a grand opening of types for the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization the place the nation’s oldest monarchs had been set to land and an invite to vacationers to return after the pandemic.
“These are the mummies of kings and queens who ruled during Egypt’s golden age,” stated Zahi Hawass, a former minister of antiquities who supervised the invention of tombs that date again 1000’s of years. “It’s a thrill, everyone will watch.”
Everyone, besides many Egyptians.
Along the five-mile path to the brand new museum lay stretches of working-class neighborhoods that had been intentionally hidden from view forward of the parade, a reminder of the jarring divide between Egypt’s celebrated previous and its unsure current.
Banners proclaiming the “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade” and huge nationwide flags prevented tv viewers from peering inside Cairo’s impoverished areas and stored native residents from getting a glimpse of the polished, made-for-TV spectacle. In one spot, plastic screens at the very least 10 toes tall had been mounted on scaffolding to shut gaps in a cream-colored wall.
“They put it up to hide us,” stated Mohammed Saad, a native resident who stood with two pals a few toes behind a barrier that separated them from the newly swept highway the place the ancestral parade would roll via.
Two safety officers confirmed that nobody could be allowed to depart close by neighborhoods in the course of the parade, or to step onto the road to look at. “They can watch on a screen,” considered one of them provided.
In a tv interview, the top of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities credited the president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, for conceiving of the general public procession as a method to attract vacationers again after the coronavirus pandemic introduced worldwide journey to a halt final 12 months.
But the spectacle additionally underlined the financial and social divisions in Egypt’s capital.
“There is a tendency to try to show a better picture instead of fixing the existing reality,” Ahmed Zaazaa, an city planner, stated of the federal government’s public picture efforts. “The government says they are making reforms, but the vast majority of people in Cairo who live in working-class neighborhoods are excluded.”
Egyptian tv broadcast nonstop protection of the parade preparations, emphasizing how the information was echoing overseas, pairing the visuals with dramatic theme music and a stream of details about the 22 kings and queens who dominated Egypt greater than 3,000 years in the past.
The historical royals who had been on the transfer included Ramses II, the longest reigning pharaoh, and Queen Hatshepsut, considered one of Egypt’s few feminine pharaohs.
After sundown, crowds gathered in downtown Cairo, amongst them enthusiastic younger households who introduced their kids alongside in hopes of getting a glimpse of the historic second.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. These are our ancestors.” stated Sarah Zaher, who got here with three pals.
But a lot of those that gathered had been met by police barricades and turned again.
A uniformed officer yelled, “If you want to watch, go watch on television.” Disappointed, the crowds retreated into close by espresso homes to look at on tv or on their telephones.
Nada Rashwan and Dawlat Magdy contributed reporting.
