The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or Museum of Cairo, in Cairo, Egypt, is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, and houses the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world. The museum displays an extensive collection spanning from the Predynastic Period to the Greco-Roman Era.
It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms. Built in 1901 by the Italian construction company Garozzo-Zaffarani to a design by the French architect Marcel Dourgnon, the edifice is one of the largest museums in the region. As of March 2019, the museum is open to the public. In 2021 the museum is due to be superseded by the new Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza.
The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history. It houses the world's largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities. The Egyptian government established the museum built in 1835 near the Ezbekieh Garden and later moved to the Cairo Citadel. In 1855, Archduke Maximilian of Austria was given all of the artifacts by the Egyptian government; these are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
A new museum was established at Boulaq in 1858 in a former warehouse, following the foundation of the new Antiquities Department under the direction of Auguste Mariette. The building lay on the bank of the Nile River, and in 1878 it suffered significant damage in a flood of the Nile River. In 1891, the collections were moved to a former royal palace, in the Giza district of Cairo. They remained there until 1902 when they were moved, for the last time, to the current museum in Tahrir Square, built by the Italian company of Giuseppe Garozzo and Francesco Zaffrani to a design by the French architect Marcel Dourgnon.
In 2004, the museum appointed Wafaa El Saddik as the first female director general. During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the museum was broken into, and two mummies were destroyed. Several artifacts were also shown to have been damaged. Around 50 objects were lost. Since then 25 objects have been found. Those that were restored were put on display in September 2013 in an exhibition entitled Damaged and Restored. Among the displayed artifacts are two statues of King Tutankhamun made of cedar wood and covered with gold, a statue of King Akhenaten, ushabti statues that belonged to the Nubian kings, a mummy of a child and a small polychrome glass vase.
Interior design:
There are two main floors in the museum, the ground floor and the first floor. On the ground floor there is an extensive collection of papyri and coins used in the Ancient world. The numerous pieces of papyrus are generally small fragments, due to their decay over the past two millennia. Several languages are found on these pieces, including Greek, Latin, Arabic, and ancient Egyptian. The coins found on this floor are made of many different metals, including gold, silver, and bronze. The coins are not only Egyptian, but also Greek, Roman, and Islamic. This has helped historians research the history of Ancient Egyptian trade.
It houses the complete burials of Yuya and Thuya, Psusennes I and the treasures of Tanis, and the Narmer Palette commemorating the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under one king, which is also among the museum’s invaluable artifacts. The museum also houses the splendid statues of the great kings Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, the builders of the pyramids at the Giza plateau. An extensive collection of papyri, sarcophagi and jewelry, among other objects, completes this uniquely expansive museum.
Also on the ground floor are artifacts from the New Kingdom, the time period between 1550 and 1069 BC. These artifacts are generally larger than items created in earlier centuries. Those items include statues, tables, and coffins (sarcophagi), it also contains 42 rooms, upon entering through the security check in the building, one looks toward the atrium and the rear of the building with many items on view from sarcophagi and boats to enormous statues.
On the first floor there are artifacts from the final two dynasties of Egypt, including items from the tombs of the Pharaohs Thutmosis III, Thutmosis IV, Amenophis II, Hatshepsut, and the courtier Maiherpri, as well as many artifacts from the Valley of the Kings, in particular the material from the intact tombs of Tutankhamun and Psusennes I. Two special rooms contain a number of mummies of kings and other royal family members of the New Kingdom.
Collection of the Museum:
The jewelry of Queen Ah-hotep, wife of Seqenen-re and mother of both Kamose and Ahmose who liberated Egypt at the end of the 17th Dynasty. Her tomb was found in Thebes in 1859.
The mummies of some of the 18-20th Dynasty kings and their coffins gathered together by the priests of the 21st Dynasty and hidden in the so called Deie el-Bahari cachette in Thebes. These were found between 1875 and 1881 (in the tomb of Queen Inhapi) and consists of the mummies of Seqenen-re, Ahmose I, Amenophis I, Tuthmosis I, II,III, Seti I, Ramses II and III.
The funerary equipment from the tomb of Sennedjem and his family (tomb N1 in Deir el-Medina, Thebes), which was discovered in 1886.
Mummies and coffins of the priests of Amon found in Deir el-Bahari in 1891. Out of 153 coffins dating back to 21st and 22nd Dynasties which were recovered many were given as gifts or sold abroad by the Egyptian government.
Artifacts from tombs of kings and members of the royal families of the Middle Kingdom (Hor, Nub-hetepti-khered, Khnumit, Sat-Hathor, Ita, Merit, Sat-Hathor-Yunet) found at Dashur in 1894.
Artefacts from the tomb of Prince Maherperi of the 18th Dynasty, which was discovered in 1898 in the Valley of the Kings.
Artefacts and royal mummies found in the tomb of Amenophis II in 1898 in the Valley of the Kings (mummies of Amenophis II, Tuthmosis IV, Amenophis III, Merenptah, Seti II, Siptah, Ramses IV, V, VI, three women and a child).
The funerary equipment from the tomb of Yuya and Thuya and the remains of the contents of the royal tombs of Tuthmosis III and IV, Amenophis III and Horemheb, all found before 1906.
Artefacts from the tomb of Tutankhamon, discovered in 1922. There were more than 3500 pieces, 1700 out of them are on display in the museum. The rest are in storerooms in Cairo and Luxor.
Artefacts from the tomb of Hetep-heres, mother of Khufu, which were found to the east of the great pyramid at Giza in 1925.
Artefacts from the Amarna period made for Akhenaten and members of his family and some high officials. It was found in Tel-Amarna, Hermopolis, Thebes and Memphis between 1912 and 1933.
Monuments from the tomb of Hemaka, chief and administrator from the time of king Udimo of the 1st Dynasty. It was all found between 1933 and 1936 at Saqqara.
Objects from some royal and private tombs at Tanis (east Delta) dating from the 21st and 22nd Dynasties. It was found in 1939.
Artifacts discovered by Egyptian and foreign expeditions in Giza, Saqqara, Helwan, Abu Bello, Athribis, Bubastis, Heliopolis, Aswan, Nubia, the eastern and western deserts and Sinai.
Collection of artifacts from the royal palaces, seized for, purchased by, or donated to the museum.
A unique exhibition of the museum the Animal Mummy hall prepared by Salima Ikram is now open to public.
Animal Mummies Hall:
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo has one of the world's first and largest collection of animal mummies. It became in 1902 one of the first art archaeology museums to include a display of the ancient Egyptian's natural world, with a focus on animal mummies. Animal mammies were a part of the Museum's collection since its first inception, when the museum was located in Boulaq (opened in 1863). At first only a handful of mummies were on display in Boulaq. When the museum collection moved to a palace in Giza in 1890 due to problems with the flooding of the Boulaq Museum, the mummies were exhibited on the upper floor, in room LXV. In both museums the mummies had only been displayed in order to show the diverse modes of wrapping, and to give an idea of the variety of animals that were involved in Egyptian religious and funerary culture. In 1902 when the new museum in Tahrir square was opened, a special hall Room of the old fauna and flora (room 53) was designated to display animal mummies as well as other artefactual examples of ancient Egyptian flora and fauna. By now the collection of mummies is much enlarged and occupies cabinets E-G.
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