Royal Mummy Room: Where to See Egypt's Royal Mummies Today

The Royal Mummy Room is no longer in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square. On 3 April 2021 its 22 royal mummies, 18 kings and 4 queens, were moved in the televised Pharaohs' Golden Parade to the Royal Mummies Hall of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in Fustat, Old Cairo, where you visit them today. The hall is included in the NMEC ticket, which costs EGP 550 for a foreign adult at the time of writing.

Many travellers still search for the "mummy room" of the old museum, and some guidebooks still send them there. This guide explains where the mummies are now, who you will meet, and how our guides plan the visit.

For most of the 20th century the royal mummies were shown in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir. The display was closed in 1980, by a decision widely attributed to President Sadat, who judged it disrespectful to the dead, and the mummies returned to view in a climate-controlled Royal Mummy Room in the 1990s, with an extra ticket. That room, on the upper floor, was small and crowded, and visitors filed past glass cases in dim light.

The new museum was built to give the kings a better home. The Golden Parade carried them about 5 km through Cairo on 3 April 2021, each in a nitrogen-filled case on a decorated vehicle, and the Royal Mummies Hall opened to visitors later that month. The old room in Tahrir is closed; the Egyptian Museum still shows other treasures, which we describe in our Egyptian Museum guide.

All 22 come from the New Kingdom and the time just before it (about 1560 to 1100 BC), and most were found in two hiding places where priests had reburied them after their tombs were robbed: the Deir el-Bahari cache (found in 1881) and the tomb of Amenhotep II (1898).

Hatshepsut is listed among the queens in the parade, although she ruled as king; read what Hatshepsut did for her story.

Seqenenre Tao

The king who began the war against the Hyksos. His skull shows the wounds of axes and a dagger; he probably died in battle around 1560 BC. It is a hard face to look at, and the clearest evidence of violent death among the royal mummies.

Seti I

Often called the best-preserved royal mummy: a calm, strong face more than 3,000 years after death. His tomb in the Valley of the Kings is the finest painted tomb in Egypt.

Ramesses II

The great builder of Abu Simbel died in his nineties after a reign of about 66 years. You can still see his hooked nose and the reddish tint of his hair. In 1976 his mummy was flown to Paris for conservation, and a much-repeated story says he was issued an Egyptian passport for the trip.

Hatshepsut

Her mummy was identified only in 2007, thanks to a tooth found in a box with her name that matched a gap in the jaw of an unnamed woman's mummy.

Queen Tiye

The powerful wife of Amenhotep III and grandmother of Tutankhamun, recognised by her long, still-abundant hair.

Not in the Royal Mummies Hall. Tutankhamun's mummy stays in his own tomb, KV62, in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, where you can see it with a separate ticket. His gold mask and treasure are at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza. Our article where is King Tutankhamun now explains the details.

Prices and hours are from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities page for the NMEC, checked on 5 November 2026. Prices change from time to time, so check before you visit. Tickets can be bought online through the official link on nmec.gov.eg or at the museum.

Rules inside the hall

• Photography is not allowed in the Royal Mummies Hall (a ministry adviser has called it against the law); phones stay in your pocket. Elsewhere in the museum, flash and tripods are not allowed.
• Speak quietly. The hall is designed as a dark, underground space, like a tomb, and the staff ask for silence.
• Large bags go to the cloakroom at the entrance.

Tips from our guides

• See the main gallery upstairs first, with its story of Egypt from prehistory to today, then go down to the mummies. The context helps.
• Go at opening time or on the Friday evening session; tour groups arrive between about 10:00 and 13:00.
• Children: the hall is calm and the mummies are under glass, but some faces (Seqenenre) can upset young or sensitive visitors. Decide case by case.
• Combine NMEC with Coptic Cairo, the Hanging Church and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, which are about 10 minutes away by car.

Yes. Standing in front of Ramesses II or Seti I, whose names you read on temple walls in Luxor and Abu Simbel, is something no other museum offers. If you have only one day for museums in Cairo, choose the Grand Egyptian Museum for Tutankhamun and the art; if you have two, the NMEC is the natural second, and the mummies are the reason. Our guide to what museums to visit in Cairo compares them, and the NMEC guide covers the rest of the museum.

To understand what you are looking at, read our article on the history of ancient Egyptian mummies before you go.

Our Cairo day tours are private and can be built around the NMEC and the royal mummies, and the Old Cairo tour covers the Coptic and Jewish quarter right next to the museum.

Is the Royal Mummy Room still in the Egyptian Museum?

No. The royal mummies were moved to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) in Fustat on 3 April 2021.

Do I need a separate ticket for the mummies?

No. At the time of writing the Royal Mummies Hall is included in the NMEC ticket (EGP 550 for a foreign adult).

Can I take photos of the royal mummies?

No. Photography is not allowed in the Royal Mummies Hall.

Is Tutankhamun in the Royal Mummies Hall?

No. His mummy remains in his tomb (KV62) in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.