Graeco-Roman Museum

Floor plan of the museum

The main entrance

The Graeco-Roman Museum of Alexandria in Egypt was created in 1892. It was first built in an five-room apartment, inside one small building in Rosetta Street (later Avenue Canope and now Horriya). In 1895, it was transferred to another, larger building near Gamal Abdul Nasser Street. The museum contains several pieces from the 3rd century BC, such as a sculpture of Apis in black granite, the sacred bull of the Egyptians, mummies, sarcophagus, tapestries, and other objects offering a view of Greco-Roman civilization in contact with Egypt.

Its collection is the product of donations from wealthy Alexandrians as well as of excavations led by successive directors of the institution, both within the town and in its environs. Certain other objects have come from the Organization of Antiquities at Cairo (particularly those of the Pharaonic period) and from various digs undertaken at the beginning of the century in Fayoum and at Benhasa. Housed within a historic building whose beautiful neoclassical facade of six columns and pediment bears the large Greek inscription ‘MOYΣEION’ (MOUSEION). The museum consists of 27 halls and an attractive garden, which offer an excellent introduction to Egypt's Greco-Roman period.

The museum has been closed for renovations since 2008. As of September 2014, the building was still surrounded by scaffolding.

See also

• Museums in Alexandria

External links

• Graeco-Roman Museum Web