The Egyptian Museum

It’s no secret that the Egyptian culture is filled with an interesting history. What better way to experience those stories than through a visually exquisite museum? Well, that’s what we did, and it was incredible. The famous Egyptian Museum also called the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities is home to over 120,000 Egyptian artifacts. This museum is located in the heart of Cairo, Egypt, and is centrally located to other activities available in the city. 

History of the Museum

Garozzo-Zaffarani, an Italian construction company, built the Egyptian Museum in 1901. Marcel Dourgnon is the talented architect behind the design of the museum, which is impressive because this is one of the largest museums in the region. There are many famous artifacts in this museum such as the Gold Mask of Tutankhamun, Statue of Khafre, and Mummy mask of Wendjebauendjed. Try and say that one three times fast!

Design and Artifacts

It’s super easy to lose track of time here because the museum is huge. There are two floors in the museum, the ground floor, and the first floor. Located on the first floor, you will find larger pieces made of pure stone such as various statues and sculptures. As you make your way to the first floor, you’ll find a collection of smaller pieces such as papyrus paper, coins, textiles, and wooden sarcophagi. If you didn’t know, sarcophagi is a fancy term for an Egyptian coffin.

There is an endless amount of interesting artifacts to look at and read about. Also displayed in the museum are Egyptian mummies. However, there are plans to build a bigger museum, so a majority of the mummies have been moved. The papyrus displayed in the museum only consists of small fragments because they have decayed over the years. You will find that there are several different languages on the artifacts like Greek, Latin, Arabic, and, of course, Egyptian. The coins are made of various metals such as silver, gold, and bronze. The coins are displayed in Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Islamic, which has helped with the detailed research on the history of Egyptian trade.

Damaged and Restored

An interesting, yet unfortunate, story of the museum took place during the Egyptian Revolution. In 2011, people broke into the museum. During the robbery, two mummies and several artifacts were destroyed and around fifty objects were missing. However, since then, they have recovered twenty-five of the objects. They restored them and put them on display in the museum in 2013. They called the repurposed objects Damaged and Restored. A few of the Damaged and Restored objects included two statues of King Tutankhamun made of wood and dipped in gold, a statue of King Akhenaten, ushabti statues, a mummy of a child, and a polychrome glass vase.

Experience 

The Egyptian Museum was such an incredible experience. It was so fun walking through this amazing museum filled with Egyptian history. I was able to visualize their culture and learn so much interesting information. I would highly recommend the Egyptian Museum if you are visiting the city of Cairo. If you have any further questions or would just like to connect with me more, you can send me a message here. I’m looking forward to continuing to explore this amazing country.