Egyptian Museum - Cairo

 Overview

The Cairo Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, better known simply as the Egyptian Museum or Cairo Museum, is an archeological museum in Cairo, Egypt. It has an extensive collection of artisans from ancient Egypt, about 120,000, of which the most representative are exhibited,. The current building was built in 1901 by the Italian company Garozzo-Zaffarani and is one of the largest museums in Africa.

 

History

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities contains many important items of ancient Egyptian history and the largest collection of objects related to pharaohs in the world. In its original form it was founded by the Egyptian administration in 1835 near the central district of Azbakya and later relocated to the Acropolis of Cairo. In 1855, however, all his belongings were donated by the Egyptian government to Archduke Maximilian of Austria and are now housed in the Museum of Art History in Vienna.

A new museum was established in Bulak in 1858 in a former warehouse, following the creation of the new Department of Antiquities under the direction of Auguste Mariet. The building, however, was located on the banks of the Nile and in 1878 was severely damaged by a river flood. In 1891 his collections were transferred to a former palace in Giza. They remained there until 1902, when they were relocated for the last time to the current building, in Tahrir Square.

Building classification

There are two main levels to the museum: The ground floor and the first floor. On the ground floor, which has 42 rooms, a large collection of papyri and ancient coins is on display. The papyri are generally small pieces due to their wear over the centuries, but they contain texts in several languages, such as Greek, Latin, Arabic and ancient Egyptian. The coins are similarly not only of ancient Egyptian construction, but also Greek, Roman and Islamic.

The ground floor also houses artefacts from the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1069 BC), which are generally larger than those of previous centuries and include statues and sarcophagi.

On the first floor there are artifacts from the last two dynasties of ancient Egypt, including many of the tombs of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III, Tuthmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut and maiherpri. Also, many objects from the Valley of the Kings, especially from the immaculate tombs of Tutankhamun and Dusenne AD. Two special rooms contain mummies of kings and members of the royal families of the New Kingdom.

In the garden adjacent to the Museum there is a monument to Auguste Mariette, surrounded by 23 busts of the following Egyptologists: François Saba, Johannes Dumichen, Conrad Lemans, Charles Wycliffe Goodwin, Emanard de Rouge, Emanuel de Rouz Lepsius, Teodil Deveria, Vladimir Golenichev, Ippolito Rossellini, Lambib Habaci, Sami Gabra, Selim Hassan, Ahmet Kamal, Zakaria Gunayem, Jean-François Champolion Pelejo.

 

Collections

The museum houses some of the greatest treasures of ancient Egyptian times. The entire contents of tomb DK 62, the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, can be found in the institution and numerous mummies, including that of Ramses II, are on display.

A subdivision can be made of art from:

Prehistory
The Old Kingdom of Memphis
The Middle Kingdom
The New Kingdom
Tell el Amarna
Greco-Roman period

Examples from the Old Kingdom of Memphis are:

Statues of Prince Rahotep and his consort Princess Nofret, early 4th Dynasty
Black diorite statue of King Khafre, 4th Dynasty
Statue King Menkaure between the goddess Hathor and the goddess of Diospolis Parva
Head of King Userkaf, 4th Dynasty
Statue of the Sheik el Beled, 5th Dynasty
Statue of Ranofer, prophet of Ptah and Sokari, 5th Dynasty
Portrait image of Ti, 5th Dynasty
Statue of the kneeling scribe, 5th Dynasty
Statue of a servant washing a pitcher, 5th Dynasty
Statue of the dwarf Seneb with his family, 6th Dynasty
Sarcophagus of Ra-ur, 5th Dynasty

Examples from the Middle Kingdom are:

Sculpture Group of Soldiers, 9th-10th Dynasty
Image of King Neb-hetep-Ra, 11th Dynasty
Image of Sesostris I, 12th Dynasty
Image of Sphinx from Amenemhet III, 12th Dynasty
Portrait image of Amenemhet III, 12th Dynasty

Examples from the New Kingdom:

Statue of Senmut with Princess Nefrura, 18th Dynasty
Statue of Pharaoh Thutmose III, 18th Dynasty
Gold-colored statue of Cow from Deir el-Bahari, 18th Dynasty
Second sarcophagus of Queen Merit Amon, 18th Dynasty

Examples from the Tell el Amarna:

Colossal statues of Akhenaten, 18th Dynasty
Statue of Queen Nefertiti, 18th Dynasty
The Golden Sarcophagus of Tutankhamun, 18th Dynasty
Statue of Tutankhamun about to throw a harpoon, 18th Dynasty
Shrine with the conops of Tutankhamun, 18th Dynasty
Case with a painting of Tutankhamun, 18th Dynasty
Gold-colored Shrine with the statues of the royal couple, 18th Dynasty
Gold-colored Throne with Tutankhamun and the Queen, 18th Dynasty

Visiting dates: -

From nine o'clock in the morning until five o'clock in the evening.

Ticket price:-

The price of the museum entry ticket for the Egyptians: -

The price of a ticket to enter the museum for Egyptians is 20 Egyptian pounds, on various days. 

 

Museum ticket price for Egyptian students: 

 The museum ticket price for students is only 5 pounds, provided that the university card is presented for the current academic year.

Museum ticket price for foreigners: -

The price of entry ticket to the museum for foreigners is only 160 pounds.

Museum ticket price for foreign students: -

The museum entrance ticket for the foreign student is 80 pounds.

To view more about the prices of tickets for archaeological sites through the official website of the Ministry of Antiquities through the following link: -

Website of the Ministry of Antiquities

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