Have you been to a museum before? Have you ever went on a school trip to visit the Natural History Museum or others? If you were into history, developed history interest lately or even don’t know a bit of it, you will find what will amaze you and more when you travel to Egypt.
Away from the open museum attractions scattered all over the country such as Giza pyramids, Egypt has a lot of museums that will grab anyone’s attention.
Some of Egypt best museums are located in the capital, Cairo. However, there are plenty of museums around Egypt, exhibiting various parts of Egyptian history.
Let’s explore different parts and places of the history and cultural heritage of Egypt.
Egypt best museums
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo
The Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is famous for its large collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities, as it’s one of the largest museums in the world. It’s on the top of the list of many history enthusiasts. The museum has about 120000 ancient pieces, giving us an idea about how the ancient Egyptians managed their lives.
The museum houses various important artefacts; jewellery, sarcophagi, royal mummies, papyrus scrolls and more. However, the most important collection there is King Tutankhamen’s treasures, including the kings’ golden mask.
If you choose to visit the Egyptian museum, you can’t miss the mummy room. Although this section is for extra fees, it’s worth every penny. I remember once, I was wandering in this section, and felt like I was being watched. I stepped back to take a deeper look into the mummy face, I felt that it was looking deep into my soul. It’s such a terrifying yet extraordinary experience.
In recent years, the government started building a new museum called “Grand Egyptian Museum”, that will be opened to the public in 2020 and set to be the archaeological museum in the world. The museum will contain about 5000 items including the full collection of King Tutankhamun’s’ tomb; plus other items that were originally displayed in museums in Alexandria, Luxor, Sohag and others.
Make sure to go with a guide, not to miss the important information about the ancient bits and pieces. Today, photos are allowed free of charge for a number of ancient Egyptian items.
Museum of Islamic Art
Although Egypt is a country famous for its pharaonic history, the country went through many significant historic periods, which left many pieces to explore.
The Museum of Islamic Art is located in Cairo and contains an outstanding collection from all over the Islamic world; Egypt, North Africa, Andalusia, the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. You can see rare woodwork and plaster artefacts, metal, ceramic, crystal, and textile items from the 7th to the 19th century.
The museum is home for about 80,000 items.
Manual Palace Museum
This palace, also known as Prince Mohammed Ali Tawfik Palace, dates to the Ottoman dynasty. You will be amazed by the building architecture and interiors that mix the European and Ottoman, Persian and Moorish styles in a picture-perfect kind of way.
The palace showcase how the prince once lived. It has awesome historical gardens, forested nature park plus a Hunting Lodge Museum belonged to the late King Farouk.
Coptic Museum
To complete our tour in Cairo museums, we have to pass on the Coptic Museum. The museum has the largest collection of Coptic art, which is a mix of numerous traditions linking ancient and Islamic Egypt, with around 15,000 objects on display.
The museum also has a library open only for specialist researchers, which contains a collection of 1,200 Nag Hammadi manuscripts.
The Egyptian Museum in Alexandria
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
One of the best museums in Egypt is outside the capital. Book a day tour to Alexandria city following your guided tour in Cairo, just 220 km (137 miles) north of the capital, to visit Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The new library was built to rekindle the one that was lost during the Roman Period and was designed by the Norwegian architectural office, Snøhetta.
Besides the library, Bibliotheca Alexandrina also contains a conference centre, 4 art galleries, 15 permanent exhibitions, a planetarium and a manuscript restoration laboratory. The library itself has one of the greatest book collections in the world, with more than 500,000 books in position and space for 4 million volumes and can be expanded to take double this amount.
On top of this, you will be dazzled by the library architecture; the glass-panelled roof is titled like a sundial towards the sea, and the walls are carved with letters from 120 different human scripts.
You will find great reviews for the iconic Bibliotheca Alexandrina online. However, what you will see and learn is beyond imagination.
Nubian Museum
Head to Aswan, specifically to the southern end of Elephantine, to discover a part of the fascinating Nubian heritage.
The museum was created by UNESCO, to display the relics of ancient Nubian civilization. It shows parts of Nubia history, the most important Nubian customs and traditions and a glance the ancient Nubian language.
The place contains 3000 items from the Geological, Pharaonic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras.
Although some may say that the tickets are a little bit overpriced, the museum is worth the visit. Visitors tend to be few, making it easier to explore every inch of the place.
The Egyptian Museum in Luxor
Museum of Mummification
Most tours to Upper Egypt include a trip to Luxor and Aswan, which is a great opportunity to visit the Museum of Mummification in Luxor.
The small museum is the house for some well-preserved mummies in the 21st century, also exhibits to explain the ancient Egyptian art of mummification.
Most tours to Upper Egypt include a trip to Luxor and Aswan, which is a great opportunity to visit the Museum of Mummification in Luxor.
The small museum is the house for some well-preserved mummies in the 21st century, also exhibits to explain the ancient Egyptian art of mummification.
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