The Egyptian Museum in Cairo

The museum was built in the early 1800s by Auguste Mariette, a French egyptologist who discovered incredible amounts of famous monuments and temples. It has an absolutely huge collection.. it is apparently quite an expedition to find something in one of it's storerooms!

Our guidebook recommended visiting the museum a couple of times in order to get everything in. We spent a couple of hours on the Saturday wondering around on our own. It wasn't as exciting as we'd hoped as there was just so much to take in and things were not very clearly marked so we weren't always clear about what we were looking at. This was the arrival day of our tour. On Sunday, Day 2 of the tour, we went again with the group and with the assitance of an excellent Egyptologist guide named Aladdin (who has a web site). We found the second day a much more worthwhile experience as we got to hear a lot more of the stories behind the exhibits, even though we didn't go through the entire museum.

We were able to see the famous treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb, found in 1922 fully intact, as well as the exhibition of the Royal mummies, including the mummies of Ramesses II, IV, Tutmosis II and IV. There were lots of other mummies in the museum, but these ones were unwrapped and royal! It was amazing still being able to see the flesh and hair on some of them.

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Pictures Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large statue of Akhenaten (18th dynasty) Small - Large partially restored statue of Tutankhamun and his wife Small - Large hippo-shaped god of fertility Small - Large Small - Large cool shields from king tut's treasures Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large Tutankhamun's throne Small - Large ancient games Small - Large alabaster jars Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large the famous funerary mask Small - Large Small - Large Small - Large the main atrium of the museum Small - Large mummified animals Small - Large mummified cat Small - Large mummified pet monkey Small - Large Small - Large Mummified dog (unwrapped) Small - Large Mummified fish (unwrapped) Small - Large Small - Large Jen at front of the museum with lotus and papyrus plants Small - Large Dan at front of Museum Small - Large cairo tower at night from our hotel