The wooden coffin of King Ramses II returned to the French capital, Paris, after nearly half a century, on an exceptional loan to participate in the "Ramses and Gold of the Pharaohs" exhibition.

EDITED BY |CHRISTIAN MEGAN

HISTORY SECTION

7 APRIL 2023- PARIS

       The exhibition began its journey two years ago, at the Houston Museum in the United States of America, then moved to the US state of San Francisco, then its third stop came in the French capital, Paris, from which it will move to the Australian city of Sydney.

However, the king's wooden coffin will only be displayed in Paris, during the period from the sixth of April this year until the 17th of next September, and then it will return to Egypt, according to the decision of the Egyptian Council of Ministers.

This is the second visit of the sarcophagus to Paris, where he traveled with the mummy of King Ramses II in 1976, to treat the mummy after it was infected with fungus.

Egypt says that sending the coffin to France this year comes in appreciation of the role of French scientists in providing support and assistance in treating the mummy.

The Egyptologist and French coordinator of the exhibition, Dominique Farrow, told BBC Arabic that hosting the sarcophagus in France again is a "dream." He adds, "When we raised the matter, I was confident that the Supreme Council of Antiquities would refuse to send it because it is a very important sarcophagus, but they said yes, out of appreciation." For France's role in saving the mummy of King Ramesses II, I did not believe myself at the time. It was a dream for me."
"When the sarcophagus came in 1976, I went to see the exhibition eight times," Farrow says. "This sarcophagus touched my heart. And all the people in France, today, are talking about visiting the sarcophagus. This is a wonderful gift from Egypt."

The scientific coordinator of the exhibition, Benedict Lauer, describes the sarcophagus as an invaluable "treasure for humanity", and says that it is a very important sarcophagus because it preserved the mummy of King Ramesses II for about 2,800 years. Lots of visitors to the exhibition to see it."