Paris - (AFP) - The sarcophagus of Ramesses II returns to France after an absence of about half a century from its display in Paris in 1976, and the king, who is considered with Tutankhamun as the most prominent of the pharaohs, will be the most prominent element in a huge exhibition to be held in the French capital next spring. .

"When I was told that (the sarcophagus of Ramses II) would arrive in Paris, I almost cried with joy that I would see it," said Egyptologist and professor at the Louvre College Dominique Faro, who is the scientific coordinator of this exhibition entitled "Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs," in a statement to Agence France-Presse. Here again!"

He recounted that he was sixteen when the exhibition was held in 1976 at the Grand Palais, and added, "It was in my room on a large poster. I went to see it eight times in a row."

Ramesses II, one of the rulers of the Nineteenth Dynasty, is considered one of the most famous pharaohs. He ruled for 67 years and was an important military commander and built a large number of temples.

This traveling exhibition began in San Francisco in 2022 and will continue in Sydney next fall, but the sarcophagus will only be shown in France, from April 7 to September 6.

The exhibition includes countless tools, solid gold and silver jewelry, statues, amulets (talismans), masks and other coffins. It is expected to attract a large number of visitors, similar to the exhibition that was held for Tutankhamun, which was prepared in the same place in 2019 and attracted 1.4 million visitors.

The exhibition was organized at that time, as well as the current exhibition, by the world's leading company in the field of organizing cultural and artistic events, "World Heritage Exhibitions".

Egypt exceptionally lent to France the famous coffin made of cedar wood painted yellow, an "exception" that the Egyptian authorities presented to France, in appreciation of the efforts of French scientists who rescued the mummy of Ramesses II and treated it from fungi during the exhibition held in 1976, according to Farrow.

The coffin is shown empty, as the law prohibits the removal of royal mummies from Egypt.

The coffin lid features color-enhanced details

Faro explained that the lid of the sarcophagus represented "the king (...) with his hands crossed, holding a scepter and a whip (...) and with a false braided beard."

The researcher in the history of Egypt explained that the appearance of hieratic administrative inscriptions along its length "testifies to the transfer of the mummy of Ramesses with the aim of saving it three times at the end of the modern empire, around 1070 BC, and then 100 years later."

According to the Egyptologist, "the tomb of Ramses in the Valley of the Kings was plundered and his body was placed" in this sarcophagus. All parts were transferred to the tomb of his father, Seti I.

During the rule of the Twenty-First Dynasty, the sarcophagus was moved again "to a cache at the Deir el-Bahari site, west of Luxor, which contained hundreds of mummies, including mummies of kings of the modern empire."

It was not until 1881 that this cache was found, which had been looted. Faro recalls the circumstances of their transportation, "The mummies were transported from Luxor to Cairo by boat, and this won the approval of the inhabitants who gathered on the banks of the Nile."

In the exhibition, which is being held in Paris, only mummies of animals can be seen, especially kittens, "which were raised and sacrificed by their owners to be presented to the gods," according to Farrow.

The specialist identified the discovery of these mummies in recent years near Cairo, in the cemetery of the kings of the ancient empire, between 2700 and 2200 BC.

In addition to it, the visitor discovers the "Tanis treasure", which was named after the new capital, Tanis, which was rebuilt by Ramesses II east of the Nile Delta after the first capital he founded was buried with mud.
This treasure consists, according to Farrow, of "a sarcophagus of pure silver, guards for fingers and toes, or masks of pure gold, and jewelry, coming from the royal tombs that were found in this city in 1939 and 1940."