Egyptian Museum in Cairo: Tour the Amazing Museum of Antiquites

Known as the “Museum of Egyptian Antiquities”, Egyptian Museum houses the world’s biggest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts.

This museum is widely visited by tourists as it is conveniently located in the capital city of Cairo. Moreover, Cairo has country’s primary international airport, which means that most Egypt tours starts and end here. This makes it easy for tourists to explore this enchanting city and the many infamous attractions located nearby.

It is quite understood that mostly tourists come to Egypt especially to view the magnificent architecture of Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. But you should never make the mistake of thinking that Cairo has little in the way of attractions.

To the contrary, Cairo is filled with things to do and places to see and you are guaranteed that your visit to the Egyptian museum will be one of the highlights of your visit to Egypt.

An Attraction Not To Be Missed – History of Egyptian Museum

Egyptian government constructed this ‘Museum of Egyptian Antiquities’ in 1835. The sole purpose was to stop widespread plundering and looting of the country’s many archaeological sites. Moreover, it was hoped that the museum would effectively be able to protect priceless antiquities that bear testimony to Egypt’s ancient past.

Believe it or not, Egyptian Museum has over 120,000 Egyptian artifacts but not all items are on display. Many items need to be stored under very exact environmental conditions in order to prevent them from rapid deterioration.

Nonetheless, there are enough items on display to warrant spending at least one or two full days at the museum.

King Tutankhamen

There is an entire section of museum dedicated to the most famous King Tutankhamen.

Unlike many of the tombs which have been discovered during the years, that of King Tutankhamen was still relatively intact when it was initially discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter.

While the Tomb of King Tut had clearly been looted on two times, research suggests that the looting took place shortly after his death. As a result, the majority of artifacts were left behind in the tomb.

And soon after the excavation was completed, more than 3,500 artifacts were recovered. It included items like the gold face mask which has since become a global icon of ancient Egyptian civilization.

This mask is believed to be a representation of Tutankhamen’s face in this life. It was crafted from solid and weighs in at 11 kg (24.5 pounds). Moreover, the mask was found in its original position where it had been place over Tutankhamen, concealing the bandages that covered his head.

Other artifacts recovered from his tomb include a range of jewelry; vases; pots; a large finely decorated chest, and several weapons and instruments which historians believe he might have used prior to his death.

Museum of Egyptian Antiquities Jewelry Display

I bet you haven’t seen such spectacular and mind blowing jewelry display in your life. The Egyptian museum houses such gorgeous jewelry and is considered to be the world’s finest display.

Coincidentally, the display often includes two beautiful ivory and gold bracelets that were recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Perhaps the most striking thing of all about this display, is the fact that the items you look at have all been worn by people who lived so many thousands of years ago.

Ancient Sculptures

Sculptures were considered in high regard in Ancient Egypt, and they served several purposes. As a result, sculptures of every shape; form and size have been recovered from archeological sites of Egypt. Some have come from pyramids; some from the remains of ancient temples and monasteries, and some have simply been recovered from the desert sands.

Royal Mummy Room

The Royal Mummy Room at this museum never fails to impress visitors. In 1981, the then president of Egypt ordered the museum to close the Royal Mummy Room, but it was later reopened again in 1985. But it had fewer mummies on display.

Originally, the room had 27 mummies on display, whereas the room as it stands today only has 11 mummies, including the most recently discovered mummy, that of Hatshepsut.

“I am that person who dropped her B.Tech (really!) and chose to travel, specifically travel blogging. I’m Manmeet Kaur, a crazy, fun loving and adventurous person from Delhi. I knew I had an interest in writing since I was in school. I didn’t want to be an engineer, doctor or I would say a teacher. My plans were different. I wanted to travel which I guess no one,  specially girl had chosen to do in my family for a living. And like other human beings on this planet I have big dreams too. But my ultimate dream is to travel the world and share my experiences through writing and blogging.” 🙂