The Egyptian Museum of National Civilization was originally founded to document the history of civilization including the Stone Age, Ancient Egypt, and the Coptic Age.
After being closed for several years while undergoing renovation, it received its official inauguration on Saturday (April 3) when a convoy transported the mummies of 18 kings and four queens from the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo's Tahrir Square. Fustat, their home in the new museum, was the site of Egypt's capital under the Umayyad dynasty after the Arab conquest.
The museum houses a collection of items from various time periods throughout Egypt's history, from prehistoric to the modern era, according to museum lab director Abdelazeem Abdelrazek.
Visitors can use interactive screens to learn about the stone age, the old and middle kingdoms, the Greek-Roman empire, and Islamic as well as Coptic civilizations.
The transport of the mummies, mostly from the New Kingdom, down roads along the Nile in the elaborate ceremony was designed to drum up interest in Egypt's rich collection of antiquities when tourism has almost entirely stalled because of COVID-19 related restrictions.