Cairo Museum

Greetings,

The Egyptian Museum established by the Egyptian government in 1835 to limit the looting of Egypt's priceless artifacts.

The museum opened in 1858 with a collection assembled by Auguste Mariette, the French archaeologist retained by Isma'il Pasha. It was originally housed in an annex of the palace of Ismail Pasha in Giza, the museum moved to its present location in 1900.

The Egyptian Museum's collection includes over 120,000 items.

One major highlight is the famous Pharaoh Tutankhamen tomb collection on the museum's upper floor. The tomb of "King Tut" (as he is better known) was found remarkably intact by Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in 1923.

Artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamon, consisting of more than 3500 pieces, of which 1700 objects are displayed in the museum (the rest are in storerooms).

Artifacts on display include the gold funerary mask and sarcophagus, four huge gilded boxes that fit inside each other, an ancient trumpet, thrones, and even a royal toilet seat.

Guards found at the entrance of King Tut's burial chamber.

King Tut's sarcophagus...






And his impressive 10 pound solid gold burial mask.

We had a wonderful time at the museum... even the cooler temperatures of the museum were a much needed break from the heat of outside. Harry is a history nutcase... and has long since wanted to tour around this museum.

Unfortunately, we were running short on time and decided against the guided tour. And just walked right past the headset tour guide.... to walk into a museum with nothing labeled! Each exhibit had a number that corresponded to that piece... I wish someone had told me that before! We wandered from room to room having NO clue what we were looking at, only the pieces we had read about and were on a mission to see.

FYI... when going to the Egypt Museum of Antiquities... purchase the audio tour guide!

Blessings,

Kristie