The Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum is right in the middle of Cairo, on the edge of Tahrir Square. It is hard to miss when taking a tour of the city. When it opened in 1902, it was built so that it could store artifacts from ancient Egypt. The museum has the most important collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world.
The Egyptian Museum is in the downtown area of Cairo, close to Tahrir Square. West al-Balad is the Arabic name for the downtown area of Cairo. It means “the heart of the city.” This is because Downtown is the most lively part of the city. Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is often called “the city that never sleeps,” which is also true of Downtown. It is not only in the middle of Cairo, but it is also the center of all life’s activities and services and a place where people from all over the world meet. Two of the most popular restaurants downtown are Midan Talaat Harb and Midan Tahrir.
The Museum’s contents and items on display are listed below.
About 120,000 items are on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. These include the things that were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb and most of the mummies that have been found since the 1800s. Artifacts from the beginning of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (around 2700 BC) to the Greco-Roman period can be seen in the museum. Every floor of the building is set up differently. You can learn about Egypt’s history from the Old Kingdom to the Greco-Roman period by turning left at the entrance and walking around the ground floor of the museum. This makes a great background for most of ancient Egypt’s history.
The upper level of the museum is set up by theme, and a large part of the space is used to show the things that were in Tutankhamun’s tomb, including his famous death mask. On the second floor, there is also a room full of beautiful jewelry that was found in the Royal Tombs of Tanis. The Royal Mummy Room, which is another important part of the museum, can only be seen if you buy an extra ticket. Here, you can see the mummies of some of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, like Ramesses II and Seti I, as well as Hatshepsut, who was Egypt’s only queen.
The museum has so much to see and do that it might be too much. A lot of its items haven’t been renamed or reorganized since they were first put in their cases more than a century ago. This makes it hard to find what you’re looking for. So, some parts of the exhibit only give a little bit of information about the artifacts, and the labels are written in many different languages, including French, English, Greek, and German. Arabic labels are also included. Visitors often complain about how hard it is to get around the displays, which is a great reason to bring a guide with you.
The Egyptian Museum also called the Museum of Ancient Egyptian Civilization, is in Cairo, Egypt. It has a large collection of old things from all over the world. Ancient Egyptians’ possessions, mummies, jewelry, and meal bowls were all kept inside the walls of a large, old, pinkish building in Downtown Maidan Al-Tahrir. This building was also home to King Tutankhamun’s treasures and those of other great pharaohs.
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo has a huge collection of artifacts, mummies, coffins, stones, old goods, and even food types that were buried with the kings before they died so they could use them in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptians buried their dead with all of their belongings because they believed that their clothing and food would be useful in the Afterlife. This was part of their religious beliefs and practices.
Not only were their worldly possessions buried with them, but so were their “servants.” This is an interesting fact. As archaeologists find more and more things over time, the Museum’s collection keeps growing quickly. For example, the huge tomb of Tutankhamun and the amazing things that were found in it, as well as the things that Tanis was buried with, were both found after the museum opened and are now on display there. There are more than 100,000 old things in the museum right now, which is a lot for such a small space. Some things have been moved to the new Grand Egyptian Museum, but most of them are still on display in the main museum on Tahrir Square in Cairo. Even when the Grand Museum opens, the museum in Tahrir Square will still be the best place to see artifacts from ancient Egypt. Mohammed Ali, who was the king of Egypt at the time, made it illegal to take any ancient artifacts out of the country in 1835. This was done to protect the country’s cultural heritage.
The Museum’s security is quite good.
Concerns about security were mostly taken care of by closing the museum’s doors at night, as was the norm until 1996. Even though there were security measures in place, thieves were still able to get into the building. Because of this, the people in charge of the museum put in several security alarms and detectors around the building and improved the lighting in the whole place. During the Egyptian revolution of 2011, thugs attacked and ransacked the museum, taking many of its ancient artifacts. People who were there at the time stepped in right away and bravely to stop more thefts from happening. For safety reasons, they made a chain of people around the building in Tahrir Square, and it worked to keep the museum safe.
Decorative Displays from the Ancient Kingdom
The “Pyramid Builders Period” in ancient Egyptian history was a very important time that gave us a lot of interesting artifacts and things. This is why it takes up so much space in the museum. Along with the Sphinx of Giza and the Sphinx of Abu Sir, the Pyramids of Giza, the Step Pyramid of Saqqara, the Pyramids of Dahshur, and the Pyramids of Abu Sir are some of the most well-known works from that time. There you can find the statue of King Khafre, which is made of alabaster and is thought to be part of the Old Kingdom. It is on display in the second part of the ground floor on the second level of the museum. The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities also has a large collection of small statuettes that show slaves going about their daily jobs and responsibilities. These statuettes show what life was like at the time.
The Displays of the Middle Kingdom:
Ten of the most important sculptures from the Middle Kingdom are kept at the Museum and are all on display there. The 10 sculptures all show King Senosert I, who is from the 12th dynasty. All but one of the sculptures are made of limestone. After the fall of the Old Kingdom, Egypt moved on to the Middle Kingdom, which was not a particularly successful time in the history of ancient Egypt in every way. During the first ten years of the 12th dynasty, the Egyptians’ arts, industries, and artifacts, among other things, got much better, as did their standard of living.
Even though Egypt went through another transitional period when living conditions got worse, it went through another transitional period again because the nobility fought with each other. The Hyksos came to the land because it was corrupt and full of trouble. King Ahmose was able to beat the Hyksos and get Egypt back on its own feet. Shortly after that, Ahmose started the 18th dynasty, which was the first dynasty of the New Kingdom.
