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The Egyptian Museum
By Seif Kamel |
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The first Egyptian Museum of Pharaonic antiquities was
established in 1863 by the famous French archeologist,
Auguste Mariette.
Afterwards, because of the many Pharaonic treasurers
discovered in Egypt, the museum was enlarged to become
in its recent premises in the Tahrir Square that was
first opened for public in 1902.
The Egyptian museum of antiquities is said to host more
than 120 thousand displays with more than 150 thousand
other exhibits being stored in the basement of the
museum.
The most interesting displays of the museum are the
treasures of Tut Ankh Amun, discovered by Howard Carter
in 1922
However, there are many well preserved items from
different ancient periods starting with the Menes
palette dating back to 3200 BC to Greco Roman portraits
discovered in the Fayoum dating from the 2nd century AD.
The museum has two floors with displays in the first
floor roughly placed in a chronological order from the
entrance and atrium. On the other hand, the exhibits in
the second floor are organized according to themes.
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The description of the
Egyptian Museum |
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In the ground floor of the museum, there are the great
pieces of monumental statuary.
These exhibits start in the museum atrium. It begins
with the empty eyed limestone statue of king Djoser that
was discovered in Saqqara and it dates back tom 3200 BC.
Other important Old kingdom exhibits in the Egyptian Museum include the
only remaining statue of Cheops, the builder of the
Great Pyramid in Giza. King Cheops is represented seated
on his throne with wings of the Horus, the falcon god
protecting him.
Another interesting display is that of Ka-Aper, the official belonging to
the 5th dynasty, putting his left leg in front as a
gesture of movement and activeness.
The greatness of the ancient Egyptian artists is well
reflected in the lifelike statue of Prince Rahotep and
princess Nofret with her hair seen clearly under the
royal wig.
There are also a collection of alabaster ornaments and
furniture including a golden bed, an armchair, and a
jewelry box, which belong to Hetepheres, the mother of
King Cheops.
There is also the alabaster canopic chest that was used
to preserve the internal organs of the dead. This piece
was discovered in Giza in the tomb of Hetepheres
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The Old Kingdom |
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The New Kingdom is the golden age of the Pharaonic
civilization when arts, sciences, and construction
flourished all over Egypt especially in Thebes.
This is why many of the treasures of this period are on
display in the Luxor Museum.
However, the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo
hosts a number of interesting displays especially these
collected from Amarna, the short lived capital of
Akhenaton.
In this collection, the muscular forms of ancient
Pharaonic art are replaced with cartoon like faces and
figures. This fact is evident in the relief of the king
Akhenaton and his family worshiping Aten, the sun god.
However, some items belonging to this period are really beautiful like the
unfinished statue of the head of Nefertiti, the favorite
wife of Akhenaton.
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The Tut Ankh Amun treasures |
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The most interesting displays
in the Egyptian Museum of antiquities are the treasures
of King Tut Ankh Amun discovered in 1922 by the English
archeologist Howard Carter in the Valley of Kings.
This collection starts with the two life-size statues of
the king Tut Ankh Amun that was guarding his tomb in the
Valley of the Kings.
There are more than 1700 items from the treasure of Tut
Ankh Amun on display in the Egyptian Museum containing
board games, couches, and the startling golden death
mask.
There is also the set of 413 effigies of the king which
were put with him to make any tasks the king is asked to
do in the afterlife. There is the amazing lion throne
named after the golden lion head and legs on each side.
The throne of King Tut which is of great interest
because of the Amarna period influence that is clear in
this piece of art.
The alabaster Canopic jars containing the inner organs
of king Tut Ankh Amun are on display in the northern
wing of the second floor of the museum.
These jars stand in front of the room hosting King Tut's
solid gold death masks and two coffins; one of them is
made out of gold while the other is made out of wood
ornamented with semi-precious gems.
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The Middle Kingdom |
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In the west wing of the
Second floor of the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, the
daily life of the ancient Egyptians in the Middle
Kingdom are demonstrated through many displays.
There are models of local scenes including a weaver's
work shop and a nice garden with a pool.
These models represent a valuable demonstration of the
lives of the ancient Egyptians during this period of
time.
These displays were found in a tomb at the Al Deir Bahry
complex in the West Bank of Luxor.
There are many other interesting items on display in this section as well
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The Royal Mummy Room |
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This room is hosts some of the most precious displays in
the Egyptian Museum.
This is why there is an additional entrance fees to
visit this room.
The experience however is quite worth the entrance fees
as the guest will find himself, face to face, with some
of the greatest kings of Egypt through out history like
Tuthmosis II (1492 – 1479 BC), Seti I ( 1294 – 1279 BC),
and the famous army leader and builder of all time,
Ramses II (1279 – 1213 BC).
Although all these kings have died more than 3000 years
ago, the good shape and the condition of the mummies is
considered one of the secrets of the ancient Egyptian
science.
The Pharaohs were very clever in mummification that was
a long complicated process that was implemented very
carefully.
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Miscellaneous Displays |
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Other than the royal mummy room, there are some
mummified animals that are displayed in the Egyptian
Museum.
The reason why the Pharaohs mummified animals is that
some animals were considered as sacred and they were
associated with some gods.
For example, the Ibis and the Baboons were associated
with the god Throth, the crocodile was associated with
the god Sobek, and the cats were sacred to the goddess
Bastet. Many mummified animals were discovered in
different regions of Egypt where these cults flourished
in different periods of time Other fabulous displays
are present in the collection that was found in the tomb
of Yuya and Tuya, the grandparents of King Tut Ankh
Amun. Although these funerary articrafts, which were
discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 1905, contain
wonderful displays, they are usually ignored by most of
the visitors of the Egyptian Museum probably because of
the huge number of exhibits displayed in the museum.
The Fayoum Portraits or the Greco Roman funerary
paintings discovered in the Fayoum are displayed in
another room in the upper floor of the Egyptian Museum.
These displays belong to a unique type of art that was
only spread during this period of time. In the last
section of the museum, there are two relatively new
galleries containing the findings discovered in Tanis,
one of the major Nile Delta cities during the 21st and
22nd dynasties.
Intact royal tombs were excavated in Tanis containing
marvelous death masks especially this of Psusennes, who
was the third king of the 21st dynasty of Egypt who
ruled from Tanis, which was mainly made out of silver
which was a rare substance in ancient Egypt.
The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities located in the Tahrir
Square opens from 9 in the morning till 6 30 in the
afternoon. However, it is always recommended to visit
the Museum in the early morning or at the afternoon to
be able to avoid crowded hours
The national Egyptian Museum, which today contains the
largest and most important of all collections of
Egyptian antiquities, with well over 150,000 objects,
lies on busy Midan al- Tahrir (Freedom square). It was
built between 1897 and 1901 under the rule of Khedive
Abbas Helmi, to plans by the French architect Marcel
Dourgnon. The solemn opening ceremony was held on 15
November 1902. This event successfully concluded a long
campaign conducted by Auguste Mariette and his
successors after the Antiquities service was founded in
1858, with a view to providing suitable accommodation
for the exhibits. (Until recently Mariette’s mausoleum
stood in the museum garden). The exhibition rooms are on
two floors around a covered inner courtyard. The ground-
floor displays are mainly in chronological order, while
the upper floor is devoted chiefly to the galleries of
treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb and other great
archaeological discoveries like the “gold of Tanis”
Despite many improvements, the building can no longer
meet the needs of a modern museum, and the projected new
building in Giza is eagerly awaited.
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The
Pyramid of Cheops
The largest
pyramid ever built in Egypt was known as the horizon
of Cheops. This is building, astonishing in the
precision of its execution |
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The Pyramid of Chephren
king Chephren
had his pyramid built in Giza at a diagonal angle to
the building erected by Cheops. |
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The Pyramid of Mycerinus
The modest
height of the pyramid of Mycerinus, which formerly
reached 216 ft (66 m), may have been a country... |
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The
Great Sphinx
The figure of
the great Sphinx was worked from a rocky out crop.
The colossal sculpture (240 x 65 ft; 73.5 x 20 m) |
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The Solar Barque of Cheops
In 1954, yet
another sensational find was in the necropolis area
of Giza, already far from lacking in major
discoveries. While work was in progress directly in
front of the south side of the pyramid of Cheops. |
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Egyptian Museum
The first
Egyptian Museum of Pharaonic antiquities was
established in 1863 by the famous French
archeologist, Auguste Mariette. Afterwards, because
of the many Pharaonic treasurers discovered in Egypt
. |
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Memphis
The present
situation of the ancient capital of Egypt could
hardly be put more cogently, for very little of the
former glory of the metropolis remains. A few
colossal royal statues, the great alabaster sphinx. |
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Saqqara
Beside the
cemetery area of the western Thebes, Saqqara is the
most extensive mortuary town in Egypt, and it is
known to have been used from the early Dynastic
period (First / Second Dynasties) |
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The Pyramid Complex of Djoser
The great
burial district of King Djoser forms the lonely peak
in the development of the royal burial sites of the
early 3rd millennium B.C. which combine elements of
the upper Egypt and lower Egyptian traditions. |
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Dahshur
Only a few
miles south of Saqqara stretches the important and
extensive pyramid field of Dahshur (opened to the
public 1996). Immediately on the edge of the fertile
land lie the brick buildings of tree rules of the
Twelfth Dynasty. |
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The
Coptic Museum
The Coptic museum,
founded in 1908 by Marcus Simaika Pasha, contains
the largest collection of Coptic monuments in the
world. |
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The el-Moallaqa Church
The church of
the Virgin Mary was constructed above the two 59-ft
(18-m) towers of the southern gateway of the
fortress of Babylon |
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Jewish Monuments
The Moses Ben
Maimon synagogue is an important historical and
religious monument in Egypt, and its restoration
will return a piece of Jewish heritage to Egypt. |
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Al-Azhar Mosque
No other mosque
in Cairo surpasses Al-Azhar , "The Flowering," in
tradition and importance. Soon after its foundation
in 970 A.D. it became the site of university
studies, which continued there to the present. |
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Ibn Tulun Mosque
Cairo owns one
of its oldest and most beautiful mosques to Ahmed
Ibn Tulun, founder of the short lived Tulunid
dynasty. |
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Mosque of Sultan Hasan
The mosque
built below the citadel by Sultan Hasan 91347-1361)
is among the outstanding achievements of Islamic
architecture. |
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Muhammad Ali Mosque (
The Citadel of Cairo)
The citadel of Cairo
was built under Ayyubid dynasty between 1176 and
1207, and later extended to Mamluk and Ottoman
pashas, Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad (1294 - 1340) had a
mosque as well as his principal palace built there. |
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Bab
el-Futuh
In the lat
11th century Vizier Badr Al Jamali had a massive
fortress laid out around the residence of Cairo |
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Mosque of Qait Bey
This complex is
among the finest buildings in Cairo, It consists of
a portal area with well, a minaret. |
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