People in Egypt have been treated to a lavish parade to mark the transportation of 22 ancient rulers to a new museum.

Eighteen kings and four queens were transported in the Cairo parade for a distance of five kilometers to their new resting place.

The mummies were moved to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation with great fanfare in what has been dubbed The Pharaohs' Golden Parade.

The rulers were moved in chronological order of their respective reigns, the BBC reports.

A parade in Egypt. [[imagecaption|| Credit: Alamy / Newscom]]

Replica horse-drawn war chariots and a motorcade surrounded the vehicles, and they were fitted out with special shock-absorbers to protect the mummies.

The pharaohs, while initially preserved using ancient techniques, were also transported using nitrogen-filled boxes to ensure that there is no further damage.

The roads along the way to their new resting place were also repaved to ensure that it was a smooth journey.

An Egyptian mummy parade. [[imagecaption|| Credit: Alamy / Abaca Press]]

Salima Ikram, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, said: "The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has done its best to make sure that the mummies have been stabilized, conserved, and are packed in a climate-controlled environment."

While the mummies are thousands of years old, they weren't discovered until 1881 and 1898 in two caches in the ruins of Thebes in the then capital of Ancient Egypt, Luxor in Upper Egypt.

"They have already seen a lot of movement in Cairo and before that in Thebes, where they were moved from their own tombs to other sepulchers for safety," Dr. Ikram said.

A few of the remains were also transported via a boat on the Nile.

Mummies being transported. [[imagecaption|| Credit: Alamy / Abaca Press]]

The 22 mummies had spent the past century being visited by tourists in the Egyptian Museum, and it is hoped that the new museum, which will fully open later this month, will help to revitalize tourism in the area.

However, the movement of the mummies has not been without controversy as they have long been associated with bad luck and a so-called "curse of the pharaohs".

There were a number of disasters in Egypt last week, including a train crash in Sohag, Upper Egypt, that killed dozens of people, and a building collapsed in Cairo, killing 18 - events which some have attributed to the moving of the mummies.

Featured image credit: Alamy / Abaca Press

Egypt throws parade to transport mummies of 22 ancient rulers