On the 3rd of April, the whole world witnessed the ancient Egyptian culture coming back to life and showering the globe with its glory and grace. The fittingly named Pharaohs’ Golden Parade was held on the streets of Cairo in celebration of transferring 22 mummies of ancient Egyptian kings and queens from the Egyptian Museum of Cairo in Tahrir square to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in Old Cairo’s Fustat area.

Legendary conductor Nader Abbassi conducted the Cairo Philharmonic Orchestra, playing music composed by renowned Egyptian musician Hisham Nazih, using instruments similar to those used in ancient Egypt, or the evolved versions of them, like the harp, oud, and ney. The singing was a recitation of several poems written on the walls of ancient temples, and from the Book of The Dead, under the supervision of Dr Maissara Abdullah Hussein PhD, lecturer in the faculty of archaeology, at Cairo University. The songs were beautifully sung by Nesma Mahgoub, Riham Abdulhakim, and Amira Selim, bringing back to life sounds and melodies not heard on this Earth for thousands of years.

The production design was superb. Thousands of dancers and models filled the streets as part of the parade, with dazzling cinematography by the award-winning Ahmed ElMorsy, who shot beautiful films like The Blue Elephant I & II, Diamond Dust, The Originals, and Letters of The Sea. Several movie stars made an appearance, including Youssra, Mona Zaki, Nelly Karim, Ahmed Helmy, Ahmed Ezz, and Karim Abdulaziz. There was also an appearance by Khaled ElNabawy, in a mini-documentary “Masr El 7adara” directed by Tamer ElAshry, the man behind Photocopy and Eyebrows.

The parade garnered the attention of viewers all around the world, and social media was filled with reactions from all over the planet, praising the magic of ancient Egyptian civilisation and the beauty and grace of modern Egypt, having pulled off such a flawless ceremony fit to honour our ancestors and their history.

Scroll through a selection of photos from the parade taken by photographer Aly Fahim: