3/3/2021 Egyptian Museum - Wikipedia

Coordinates: 30°02′52″N 31°14′00″E

Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly
as the Egyptian Museum or Museum of Cairo, in Cairo, Egyptian Museum
Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian ‫ي‬ ‫( اﻟﻤﺘﺤﻒ اﻟﻤ‬El-Matḥaf El-Masri)
antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative
amount on display and 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 was open to the public. In 2021, the
museum is due to be superseded by the new Grand Egyptian
Museum at Giza.

Contents
History
Interior design
Memorial to famous Egyptologists
Gallery
See also Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap

References Established 1902

Further reading Location Cairo, Egypt

External links Coordinates 30°02′52″N 31°14′00″E

Type History museum
Collection 120,000 items
History size

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important Director Sabah Abdel-Razek
pieces of ancient Egyptian history. It houses the world's largest Architect Marcel Dourgnon
collection of Pharaonic antiquities. The Egyptian government Website www.antiquities.gov.eg
established the museum built in 1835 near the Ezbekieh
/DefaultEn/Pages
Garden and later moved to the Cairo Citadel. In 1855,
/UnderConstraction.aspx/ (h
Archduke Maximilian of Austria was given all of the artifacts
by the Egyptian government; these are now in the ttp://www.antiquities.gov.eg/
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. DefaultEn/Pages/UnderCon
straction.aspx/)
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 due
to the flooding of the Nile River. In 1891, the collections were moved to a former royal palace, in the Giza
district of Cairo.[1] 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
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum 1/6
3/3/2021 Egyptian Museum - Wikipedia

Zaffrani to a design by the French architect, Marcel Dourgnon.[2]

In 2004, the museum appointed Wafaa El Saddik as the first female

director general.[3]

During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the museum was broken

into, and two mummies were destroyed.[4][5] Several artifacts were
also shown to have been damaged [6] and around 50 objects were
lost.[7] Since then, 25 objects have been found. Those that were
restored were put on display in September 2013 in an exhibition
Aerial view 1904 from a balloon
entitled Damaged and Restored. Among the displayed artifacts are
where the Egyptian Museum
two statues of King Tutankhamun made of cedar wood and covered appears to the right side.
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.[8]

Interior design
There are two main floors in the museum, the ground floor and the
first floor. On the first floor there is an extensive collection of large-
scale works in stone including statues, reliefs and architectural
elements. These are arranged chronologically in clockwise fashion, The Egyptian Museum in the 1950's.
from the pre-dyanstic to the Greco-Roman period. The first floor is
dedicated to smaller works, including papyri, coins, textiles, and an
enormous collection of wooden sarcophagi. 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.
Interior of Egyptian 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.

Memorial to famous Egyptologists

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum 2/6
3/3/2021 Egyptian Museum - Wikipedia

In the garden adjacent to the building of the museum, a memorial to famous egyptologists of the world is
located. It features a monument to Auguste Mariette, surrounded by 24 busts of the following
egyptologists: François Chabas, Johannes Dümichen, Conradus Leemans, Charles Wycliffe Goodwin,
Emmanuel de Rougé, Samuel Birch, Edward Hincks, Luigi Vassalli, Émile Brugsch, Karl Richard
Lepsius, Théodule Devéria, Vladimir Golenishchev, Ippolito Rosellini, Labib Habachi, Sami Gabra, Selim
Hassan, Ahmed Kamal, Zakaria Goneim, Jean-François Champollion, Amedeo Peyron, Willem Pleyte,
Gaston Maspero, Peter le Page Renouf[9] and Kazimierz Michałowski.

Gallery

The Gold Mask of The Grave Mask of king Mummy mask of

Tutankhamun, composed Amenemope of the 21st Psusennes I
of 11 kg of solid gold dynasty

Ramesses III prisoner tiles Colossal statue of Figurine of Khufu

Amenhotep III and Tiye

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum 3/6
3/3/2021 Egyptian Museum - Wikipedia

Statue of Khafre Statue of Menkaure Bust of Akhenaten

Statue of Hatshepsut Narmer Palette Merneptah Stele

Mummy mask of Rahotep and Nofret (2575- Dwarf Seneb with his wife
Wendjebauendjed 2550 BC) (2400-2500 BC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum 4/6
3/3/2021 Egyptian Museum - Wikipedia

Canopy box from Throne of Tutankhamun Wood sculptural

Tutankhamun's tomb composition depicting a
cattle census scene (2000
BC)

Pyramdion from the

pyramid of Amenemhat

See also
Egyptian Museum of Turin
Egyptian Museum of Berlin
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
List of museums with major collections of Egyptian antiquities

References
1. "Supreme Council of Antiquities - Museums" (https://web.archive.org/web/20171023043006/http://w
ww.sca-egypt.org/eng/mus_egyptian_museum.htm). www.sca-egypt.org. Archived from the original
(http://www.sca-egypt.org/eng/mus_egyptian_museum.htm) on 23 October 2017. Retrieved
28 February 2018.
2. Kingsley, Patrick (27 January 2015). "Tutankhamun's famous home is undergoing a facelift (no glue
involved)" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/27/egyptian-museum-tutankhamun-pharoah
-cairo-patrick-kingsley). the Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum 5/6
3/3/2021 Egyptian Museum - Wikipedia

3. Düker, Ronald (11 July 2013). "Weltkultur in Gefahr" (https://www.zeit.de/2013/29/aegypten-kultursch

aetze-wafaa-el-saddik). Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 15 February 2019.
4. "Looters destroy mummies during Egypt protests" (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/30/31
24950.htm). ABC News. 29 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
5. "Vandals ravage Egyptian Museum, break mummies" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110201013827/
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/vandals-ravage-egyptian-museum-break-mummies). Al-
Masry Al-Youm. Archived from the original (http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/vandals-ravage-
egyptian-museum-break-mummies) on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
6. "Statues of Tutankhamun damaged/stolen from the Egyptian Museum" (http://www.eloquentpeasant.
com/2011/01/29/statues-of-tutankhamun-damagedstolen-from-the-egyptian-museum/). The Eloquent
Peasant. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
7. "Mummies set on fire as looters raid Egyptian museum - video - Channel 4 News" (http://www.chann
el4.com/news/egypt-malawi-museum-cairo-mummies-looters-video). Channel4.com. 28 August
2013. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
8. "Egyptian Museum exhibit puts spotlight on restored artefacts" (http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/201
3/10/23/egyptian-museum-exhibit-puts-spotlight-on-restored-artefacts/). Daily News Egypt. Retrieved
8 January 2014.
9. "Dans la cour du musée du Caire, le monument de Mariette... et les bustes qui l'entourent" (http://egy
ptophile.blogspot.nl/2017/02/dans-la-cour-du-musee-du-caire-le.html). egyptophile.blogspot.nl.
Retrieved 28 February 2018.

Further reading
Brier, Bob (1999). The Murder of Tutankhamen: A True Story. ISBN 0-425-16689-9.
Montet, Pierre (1968). Lives of the Pharaohs. World Publishing Company.
Wafaa El-Saddik. The Egyptian Museum. Museum International. (Vol. 57, No.1–2, 2005).
Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Francesco Tiradritti, editor, Araldo De Luca,
photographer. 1999, New York: Abrams ISBN 0-8109-3276-8. Also published, with variant titles, in
Italy and the UK. Reviews US ed. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0810932768)

External links
Egyptian Museum official website (https://web.archive.org/web/20171023043006/http://www.sca-egy
pt.org/eng/mus_egyptian_museum.htm)
Photographic archive of Art and Architecture (http://jemolo.com/cgi-bin/WB/jemolo.cgi?lang=it&keyw
ord=egyptian+museum+cairo&insieme=&hash=&and=on)
Egyptian Museum Unofficial (http://egypt-museum.com)
Gallery of Items in the Egyptian Museum (http://www.museumsyndicate.com/owner.php?owner=43)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Egyptian_Museum&oldid=1009991923"

This page was last edited on 3 March 2021, at 08:24 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site,
you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a
non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum 6/6