Here we have the grande dame of Egyptian museums, Cairo’s aptly-named Egyptian Museum.
Built in 1901 under the direction of a French Egyptologist, the Egyptian Museum is currently the largest museum in Africa (it will soon be surpassed by the Grand Egyptian Museum, or GEM, in Giza, but that space is still under construction). The Egyptian Museum boasts a large and impressive collection of antiquities, including many treasures from the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, dozens of sarcophagi and coffins, and everything from mummy masks to scrolls of the dead.
One of the most notable collections at the moment is the treasure of King Tut, more properly known as Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
But while the bling of King Tut is a major draw, you can see so many more fantastic things here, including golden mummy masks …
… papyrus segments …
… stelae …
… large statues …
… small statues …
… vases …
… jewelry …
… games …
… gaming equipment …
… measuring equipment …
… canoptic jars (for storing the viscera of the dead) …
… funeral boats …
… funeral cows …
… coffins (you should be noticing a death theme by now) …
… and so much more.
I was particular taken with the largely unlabeled collection of Egyptian glass. As far as we know, the Egyptians were among the first glassmakers in the world, and it’s remarkable to see what they were able to create (and even more remarkable, perhaps, that so much of it has survived).
The large statuary here is truly amazing, not only for its size, but for its range and quality.
And to look into the coffins is to stare into a world of magnificent artistic detail.
The Egyptian Museum is also a great place to look at lots of hieroglyphics!
Given all of this amazing stuff, why is the Egyptian Museum the worst museum in Egypt? I’ll give you three reasons:
1. The museum is an old-fashioned mess, a jumble of too many things on display without any notion of careful curation. Just take a look behind the cat statue below, and you’ll see shelves jammed chock-a-block full of tiny statues.
It’s impossible to know where to look or how to understand what you’re seeing. Some things are labeled, some aren’t, and lots of stuff is crammed together. That said, while some people get frustrated at trying to make sense of it all, I find this kind of curatorial mess rather endearing.
2. Folks aren’t taking care of the joint. The Egyptian Museum is poorly climate controlled, out of date, and dusty.
I can’t help but think that this little statue of Bes is angry because no one has been taking care of him. I wanted to attack the whole place with a dust cloth and then find someone to put everything into temperature- and lighting-controlled display cases. Even the museum’s signage often looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.
3. Some of the best pieces are being sent elsewhere. Rather than shore up this beautiful historical space, the Supreme Council of Culture (yes, that’s a real thing) has been moving treasures into new museums. In 2021, over 20 mummies were moved to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, and the Egyptian Museum is now nearly mummy-free (though the room of animal mummies still exists).
And while King Tut’s treasures are currently a highlight of the Egyptian Museum, the whole kit and caboodle is slated to be shuttled off to the Grand Egyptian Museum whenever it’s finally completed.
Will the Egyptian Museum still be left with an amazing collection? Absolutely. But it still seems a shame that a historical icon is losing some of its best pieces.
Overall, though, I love this place. It’s a mess, yes, but it’s a glorious mess that still has some of the shine of yesteryear. In fact, we enjoyed it so much on our first day that we asked to go back the very next day to see more of the rooms. So if you’re planning to spend time in Egypt, I would recommend allocating at least three to four hours to the Egyptian Museum. If you have a tour guide, they’ll probably give you two hours max, but that won’t be enough. Take your time, and you won’t be disappointed!
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