Cairo National Museum, Egypt - video. What can you see at the Cairo Egyptian Museum? The order was given - and the work began to boil
On our travels we rarely visit museums, but sometimes it happens. There are interesting things in the world history museums with incredible exhibits telling the stories of cities and countries, people and events. The Cairo Egyptian Museum is one of them. I admit that if we had gone to Cairo on our own, we would not have visited it. Before the trip, I knew nothing about the museum and its collections and only knew that photography was prohibited there, there were long lines to get in, and that it was worth setting aside almost the whole day to visit it. But circumstances were such that the Cairo Egyptian Museum became the main attraction on par with the pyramids. All the photographs presented below were taken by me, but before writing this note I knew only a few of the exhibits. Therefore, we had to do a lot of work to not only show you the museum’s collection, but also tell you about what we saw. So I’ll be a little guide for my beloved readers :)
The second day of the excursion program "Cairo 2 days" from the tour operator. March 15, 2018, Egypt, Cairo. Previous and this trip.
01.
The second day began at 7 am from the cafeteria of the Cataract Hotel in Cairo. After which the group met with the guide, boarded the bus, and we went to meet the first attraction - the museum. On the bus we were met by a new guide - Ahmed - he will conduct all the excursions. Now it’s his turn to entertain tourists with stories about the construction of the pyramids, and our main guide Mohammed at that time was only dealing with organizational issues. Ahmed gave the name to our group of 20 people and 3 small children “Aladdin”, with this word we will have to run to the guide if he demands our attention. His Russian was worse and, despite the fact that my mother and I moved closer, it was more difficult to understand his speech. And regarding the pyramids, Ahmed told long-established tales and did not even mention a new discovery - another way how pyramids could be built, which scientists are now more inclined to, but for now this option is in the process of searching for evidence.
At 8:45 our bus arrived at the gates of the museum, and we entered a large area noisy with crowds of tourists, which greeted us with a small Sphinx. I thought that there was only one Sphinx in Egypt, but it turned out that there are quite a lot of such statues and monuments.
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Cairo Museum was opened in 1902. This is the world's largest repository of ancient Egyptian art - about 160 thousand exhibits, collected in more than 100 rooms.
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The museum was still closed to the public, but the line of people wishing to get there stretched for more than 50 meters and in 4 rows. Ahmed said that we have 15 minutes to walk around the territory while he and Mohammed organize entrance tickets and audio guides. According to the guide, all the monuments on the streets are authentic and original, and they can be viewed completely free of charge.
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We walked to public toilet. The smell was felt from afar. The toilet is ugly and I wouldn’t say it’s clean, although the cleaning ladies were washing the floors when we entered it. There is a feeling that Egyptian women believe that, rather than more water on the floor, the cleaner it is. And I was afraid of getting my white slippers dirty)) The cleaning lady tore off the toilet paper with bare hands, having previously set aside the mop and bucket. I didn’t use the paper, although I don’t consider myself to be squeamish. When leaving, I decided not to even wash my hands in order to quickly leave the smelly room, but the cleaning lady large sizes(as if I were three) blocked the way and pointed to the washbasin. Warden, damn it)) Okay, I washed my hands, wiped them on my pants and I want to go out, and this Egyptian woman holds out her hand with the words “mani-mani.” The guide seemed to say that the toilet was free, but this lady clearly did not want to let me out. I took out 5 pounds, which I had put in a separate pocket especially for such purposes, and gave it to her. She smiled, was very happy and released me. And then the mother comes out of the booth and the African woman comes to her. “No,” I say, “she’s with me.” The cleaning lady waved her hand and let her through.
After this adventure, we returned to the group, where the guide handed out tickets and audio guides to everyone. With the help of such a walkie-talkie player, Ahmed will be able to convey to us useful information in a very noisy museum and gather us with the code word “Aladdin” if anyone gets lost.
Price entrance ticket to the museum amounted to 120 Egyptian pounds and was included in the excursion program to Cairo. Although I now remember that on one of the tourist sites in Egypt, I saw a price of 60 pounds and even with a sign for tourists, hmm... If you want to take pictures inside, you need separate ticket for £50 ($3) and the guide will take care of purchasing it for you. Also, before the tour, the guide recommended buying a disc with photos and videos from the museum.
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A little more queuing, checking tickets, scanning things and going through the scanning gates for people, and we were inside.
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In the first hall, which is also the main one, we stopped at just one stand, although the hall is very large and with a considerable number of exhibits. It seems that Ahmed was talking about the writing of the Egyptians, but it was impossible to understand, much less get closer.
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That's why I got distracted by other exhibits.
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Stone sarcophagus.
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A colossal statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III with his wife Queen Tiye and their daughter Henutane in the main hall of the museum. The reign of Amenhotep III is considered as one of greatest periods heyday of ancient Egyptian civilization. On the one hand, he revered the traditional Egyptian gods and built luxurious temples for them, on the other hand, it was in his era, when royal self-deification reached an unprecedented scale, that the roots of the upcoming Amarna reform (worship of one god Amun) lay.
12.
Behind these great statues we climbed the stairs to the second floor. The guide, a great fellow, took us in a direction where other tourist groups had not gone, so so far we had met only a few people.
Sculptural dyad of Amon and Mut from Karnak. Found in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, which was the country's main national sanctuary for almost two and a half millennia. The queen's head, made of hard, superb crystalline limestone, was only one of more than a hundred fragments of a grandiose dyad depicting the god Amun and his consort, the goddess Mut. The original height of the monument reached 4.15 m. The rear part of the sculptural group, where the supporting pillars of the statues were located, was, alas, lost, as it was of the greatest value to robbers; lost with her and most of inscriptions that were once on the monument. Horemheb, the last king of the 18th dynasty, was depicted in the image of Amon; before his accession, he was a famous military leader during the reign of Akhenaten. In the guise of Mut - his official spouse Mutnojemet is a queen of difficult fate, not only more noble by birth than her husband, but also belonging to the highest nobility: her older sister, apparently, was Nefertiti herself.
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This slab was found in a royal tomb of the 18th Dynasty, period 1356-1340. BC. It depicts Pharaoh Akhenaten, son of Amenhotep III. His wife was Nefertiti. And it is believed that Akhenaten was the father of Tutankhamun, although all his images were only with his wife and daughters. The plot on the plate: the pharaoh and his family make offerings to Aten. Aten is represented by the solar disk and the rays of the sun ending in the palms.
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Akhenaten led his people to a single god - Aten - the Sun, abolishing the polytheism that reigned in the country. He can be considered the first person in world history whose worship of the One God is documented. But after the death of the pharaoh, the priests quickly regained their influence and tried to destroy all traces of the obstinate ruler. I was very surprised when I learned that the personality of Akhenaten became the prototype for the image of the fictional pharaoh from the book “Pharaoh” by Boleslav Prus, which has long been in a prominent place in my bookcase, sparkling with gilded letters. I'll have to read it :)
The desecrated royal tomb of Akhenaten. The pharaoh's body was not found in the tomb. His sarcophagus was destroyed, but restored by archaeologists.
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After Akhenaten's hall we went downstairs again. The guide had to lead us in circles, as other groups were already gathering near some of the exhibits. And again the sphinx. I remembered that the guide talked about a woman of the pharaoh, like Hatshepsut, and this is a sphinx with her image. But then there will be another exhibit dedicated to her, which we saw as we were already heading out, and the guide did not draw our attention to it.
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Another empty room.
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And again we went up to the second floor. Some halls were deserted, without people, although I’m sure they also keep quite a few interesting things. If it weren't for the group, I would definitely have wandered here.
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View of the main hall and central entrance from the second floor.
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Some people from our group led by Uncle Murat... except for the cat of course))
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But this is not a cat, but Anubis. The Anubis statue is depicted as a recumbent jackal and was attached to the roof of Tutankhamun's burial chamber.
Element of a burial chamber. The image of this statue is considered to belong to the Great Wife of King Tutankhamun - Ankhesenamun - the Egyptian queen of the 18th dynasty, sister and main wife of Tutankhamun, third daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti. Born around 1354 or 1353 BC. e.
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Stretcher for the Pharaoh.
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Pharaoh's bed.
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Pharaoh's toilet.
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This hall is entirely dedicated to one pharaoh - Tutankhamun. His gilded throne, decorated with precious stones. On the back there is an image of the pharaoh and his young wife.
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The image is on one of the side walls of the chest. The guide said that many people order this painting to hang in their homes, but I’m a bad listener)) Tutankhamun is also depicted here.
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What wonderful slippers, truly a work of art. Tutankhamun was buried in them.
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There were also two separate halls with Tutankhamun’s belongings found during excavations. We were given 15 minutes of free time to study them. These were mainly gold figurines, dishes and jewelry. And most famous exhibit is funeral mask pharaoh, which is on display in the museum for public viewing, but photographing it is prohibited (probably because it is gold), although you can easily find photographs on the Internet. Some have tried to take photos with their mobile phones and many succeed. I was unlucky with two German old women, who, when they saw that I was pointing my smartphone towards the mask, raised such a cry that everyone turned around, not just the one looking - they were fascists, damn it, I should have taken a picture of them))
Wooden bust of the boy King Tutankhamun, found in his tomb. He ascended the throne at the age of 9-10 in 1333 BC. This is a very intriguing artifact. Notice the difference between the torso and head? Apparently this is a mannequin of a young pharaoh used for tailoring. It seems strange that it was buried with the pharaoh. Now he looks at all the tourists passing by, who are clearly much better off than standing in this glass box))
32.
But such a statue, a copy of it, stood in our Hilton Hotel. By the way, a couple of them were found in the small entrance room of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings. They resemble sentinels and have been identified as statues of "Ka" or representations of his soul or spirit. Both figures wear a very seriously ruffled kilt.
33.
We were given 15 minutes of free time to once again go around the hall of Tutankhamun and visit the hall of animal mummies. Maybe there was a hall of royal mummies here somewhere? All of us went first to the hall of animal mummies, and then simply waited not far from the guide. Or did I still listen to something? Although the guide showed us a mummy of a human fetus, which you had to shine a flashlight to see, and photography with flash is prohibited. Maybe this was the hall of mummies? Although no, I read that out of respect for the dead, excursions are not allowed here. But at least the guide could lead you and say “go there.” Now I’m looking at the layout of the halls. The Hall of Animal Mummies No. 53 and the Hall of Royal Mummies No. 56 (not even marked on some maps) are located along different sides, not close at all. Why don't they give out maps at the museum?
In general, we found ourselves in a hall of mummified animals and birds from various necropolises in Egypt. They testify to the prevalence of animalistic cults at the end of the pagan era, when their adherents embalmed everything from bulls to mice and fish.
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Just a funny element))
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Afterwards we walked around the second floor and looked at the first. It looks like one of the exhibits is being restored in this room. Interesting, they found something new...
40.
Another room. The guide talks about jewelry that belonged to some Egyptian queen. I don't remember us coming here.
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Hall with stone sarcophagi. We haven't been here either.
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The meeting point with the guide is the atrium overlooking the main entrance.
43.
Hall No. 48, dedicated to Tuyi and Iuyi, is also located here.
44.
Funeral masks of Tuya and Iuya. Tuyi, along with her husband Iuyi, were buried in the Valley of the Kings. They received this unprecedented honor because they were the parents of the Great Royal Consort of Amenhotep III of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh, and also because they held high positions under Akhenaten. Tuya's funerary mask is made of canvas, plaster, gold, alabaster and glassy alloy. Its height is 40 cm. Initially, the mask was covered with a black cover, which can be seen on the wig. Iuya's funeral mask is made of cardboard and gilding.
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Then we very quickly rushed past the rows of sarcophagi.
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And we went down again to the first level.
48.
Fragment of a wall with reliefs. But in this photo I captured our group with children. There are two of them here, but in general one family had three small children. Explain why such children should be taken on such excursions. I didn’t understand a lot of what I saw there, and what they would understand and remember. And the adults themselves will remember at least something from this trip, except how they changed diapers, calmed crying children and constantly fed and entertained them.
49.
One of the many relief paintings depicts what appears to be an offering of food to the pharaoh. And if you use your imagination, you can even imagine such an Egyptian menu for lunch)) For example, the first man on the right is carrying a pot, there are some elements and birds below - that means it’s chicken soup; the second carries a dish, and a fish is drawn below - it means fried fish, etc.))
50.
This exhibit is called "Seated Scribe" and belongs to famous works art of Ancient Egypt. Literacy was available to few in Ancient Egypt. In general, the statue of the scribe adheres to the canonical forms, but the author decided to separate the arms and torso from the stone block. Facial features are also given personality characteristics. The scribe's gaze is directed into the distance. He is thinking. With his left hand he holds the papyrus, and in his right hand he holds a writing stick. The statue was found in Saqqara in 1893 during archaeological excavations. It is made of limestone. Height - 51 cm. Dates from the first half of the Fifth Dynasty (mid-25th century BC).
51.
And this statue is remarkable for its eyes. They are like a living person. The eyes are made of alabaster, crystal, black stone with a copper rim that imitates eyeliner. This is a statue of the priest Kaaper (Village Chief). Made from sycamore (one of the species of the ficus genus). Wooden statues were common in the Old Kingdom. The material is more pliable than stone, but less durable. Therefore, few wooden statues from that time have survived to this day.
52.
Diorite statue of Khafre (Chefre). This is the fourth pharaoh of Egypt from the IV dynasty, the builder of the second largest pyramid at Giza, to which we will soon go. In addition, he is credited with the construction of the Great Sphinx (hence, his face was the prototype of the one depicted on the Sphinx).
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But most of all I liked that Egyptian schoolchildren come to this museum to sketch the exhibits. And we met them very often and a lot. This is how you should go to a museum, otherwise everyone takes pictures with smartphones)) Although you can’t show so much, and to sketch the main things, one day won’t be enough)
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The girl makes a sketch of the statue of the caretaker of the pyramids Niuserra and Neferirkar, whose name was Ti. This is a copy of a statue found in 1865 in Saqqara.
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Sometimes it is not only the museum exhibits that are interesting, but also the museums themselves, which carry the spirit of history within their stone walls.
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Solid sphinxes.
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The guide walked around this exhibit and did not comment. But I found on the Internet that this is the head of a statue of Queen Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt from the 18th dynasty. She is considered one of the most famous Egyptian rulers along with Tutankhamun, Ramesses II and Cleopatra VII. This statue head was found at Deir el-Bahri in a temple that Hatshepsut built during her reign. Hatshepsut appears as the god Osiris with a beard and crown. The face of the statue is painted red. This color was only used on male statues. It is assumed that the head was decorated with a double crown, White of Upper and Red of Lower Egypt. A little higher we stopped near the sphinx with her face.
58.
That's all. A quick acquaintance with the history of Egypt and recalling memories from school textbooks is over. The guide took us past the shopping arcades at the exit of the museum without stopping, collected our audio guides, and we boarded the bus again for the onward journey to the next attraction.
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While I was writing the article, I found information about the cost of the ticket, and yes, entry costs 60 pounds for visitors, and 120 pounds is the cost of entry to the hall of the royal mummies. And this was definitely not in the program. The Egyptians, damn it, in a word, are liars the world has never seen before. I also didn’t like the one-sided communication with the guide via the audio guide at all: the sound hissed, the hum in the museum was still audible through the headphones, and the guide deliberately jabbered so that, despite his seemingly good Russian, it was impossible to understand anything. Just imagine when you get all these unfamiliar names and the dates described above are put into your ears without stopping against the background of the general noise, all you hear is “Aladdin”, “Tutankhamun” and that’s all))
It took us a little more than an hour and a half to explore the museum; at 11:00 we were on the way to the pyramids. This is so little for such a rich collection. It’s not even possible to visit more than 100 halls. It is believed that it will take several years to examine all the exhibits in the Cairo Museum. With a tour and a guide, you will do this much faster, but you will come out more consciously on your own when you have time not only to photograph the exhibit, but also to read the signs and examine the details. I was able to realize where I was and what I saw only now, when I started choosing photos and looking for descriptions for them. I hope my note will help someone get acquainted with the museum in advance and not make my mistakes.
Fresh review
Let me start with the fact that all over the world (including, oddly enough, even) signs Brown means some sites of interest to tourists - natural and cultural attractions, museums, historical monuments. But not in Review. There is practically nothing to look at in Obzor, so absolutely all available signs here are brown. Of the new ones, anyway. (Everything that really should have brown pointers is listed in the note)
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Before the project became reality...
The order was given - and the work began to boil
June 4, 1947 Commander-in-Chief of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany Marshal Soviet Union V.D. Sokolovsky issued order No. 139, which ordered the construction of monuments to Soviet soldiers in the Berlin districts of Treptow and Pankow-Schönholz to begin.
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This introductory story will be about the journey both there and back.
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Honfleur - was the last city on our journey through northwestern France. It is located in the Normandy region at the mouth of the Seine. It was first mentioned in written sources in 1027 as the possession of the Norman Duke Richard III. Until the 16th century, Honfleur was a major port; trade with England passed through it, and from here pirates ravaged the English coast. But over time, Honfleur harbor began to silt up and ships with deep draft had to wait for the tide to get to the port. King Francis I in 1517 decided to build a new port on the English Channel - Le Havre. The economic importance of Honfleur as a port has since been very small.
I will continue to publish a book about the Monument to the Soviet Soldier-Liberator in Berlin. The first part was published earlier - vol. This part is about the memorial itself and about the war.
An ensemble of extraordinary expressive power
And now we invite you to visit the memorial ensemble and get to know it better both as a whole and with its individual elements, looking at it through the eyes of the sculptor E. V. Vuchetich.
“On both sides, the territory is limited by transport highways: Pushkinallee and Am Treptower Parkstrasse. Surrounded by a wall of mighty century-old plane trees, the future monument was completely isolated from this area of Berlin with its architecture, and this freed us from the need to reckon with it. Entering the park, a person disconnects from city life and falls entirely under the influence of the monument.
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For Victory Day, I will begin publishing a book published by the Staatsferlag of the German Democratic Republic in Berlin in 1981. This book was presented to one of the WWII veterans by the administration of AZTM around the same year.
The full title of the book is “Monument to the Soviet Soldier-Liberator in Treptow Park. Past and present". Authors: Circle " Young historians» Houses of young pioneers of the Berlin city district of Treptow. Head Dr. Horst Koepstein.
There is one paragraph on the dust jacket:
The monument to the Soviet Soldier-Liberator in Treptower Park is evidence of the unforgettable heroism of sons and daughters Soviet people who gave their lives in the struggle for the liberation of humanity from Hitler's fascism. He calls and obliges people of all nationalities, without sparing own strength, fight to maintain peace on earth.
Some exhibits can be viewed outside the building.
To the left of the entrance, Auguste Mariette himself is buried; above the grave there is a statue of him. If you pay attention to the plaque on the monument to Auguste Mariette, you can see the inscription “Mariette Pacha” (pictured on the left). Auguste was highly respected in Egypt, hence such a high-profile title.
Next to this statue are busts of the most famous archaeologists. Among them: Jean-François Champollion (deciphered the meaning of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs), Gaston Maspero (discoverer of Deir el-Bahri) and Karl Richard Lepsius (Prussian archaeologist, after whom one of the pyramids is named).
There are only two floors inside the building - ground floor and first floor. Now there is no point in describing the plan of each floor, since groups of exhibits are periodically moved between halls. Let's just say that on the ground floor there are all the large objects - statues, sarcophagi and slabs. On the ground floor there are two of the most interesting rooms: the first with the treasures of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the second with the royal mummies of the New Kingdom era.
There is also no point in talking about all the exhibits. Let's limit ourselves to a few of the most interesting ones.
Mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun
In 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the only tomb that had not been opened by ancient robbers. Pharaoh Tutankhamun from the 18th dynasty rested inside.
The tomb contained several thousand items, but the most famous was a funeral mask made of gold weighing 10.23 kilograms.
Her image is so popular that she is featured on the 1 Egyptian pound coin and is the visual “calling card” of the Cairo Museum.
In 2014, an accident happened to this mask - the beard fell off when museum staff took it for cleaning. In 2015, a team of Egyptian and German restorers reattached the beard using beeswax. Now the mask is safe and sound.
Statue of Pharaoh Khafre (Khefre)
The only complete statue of Khafre (see photo) - the 4th ruler of the 4th dynasty. Of course, he became more famous for his work at Giza than for his sculptures.
Figurine of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops)
All readers know, but few know what he looked like. This is not surprising, because only one small figurine with his image has survived (see photo), which can be viewed in the Cairo Museum.
Statues of Pharaoh Mikerin
- the third largest in Giza. At its foot, in the temple, magnificent statues were found depicting the pharaoh along with the goddesses (see photo). We talked about these statues in detail in the article about his pyramid.
Bust of Pharaoh Akhenaten
Akhenaten is a great reformer pharaoh who tried to introduce monotheism in ancient Egypt. And he almost succeeded. Many of his images were found in his capital, the city of Amarna, and the most famous bust of Akhenaten (see photo) can be seen in the Cairo Museum.
In the very center of Cairo, in Tahrir Square, there is one of the largest repositories of historical artifacts - the Cairo Museum. The museum's collection is housed in more than one hundred halls, in which over one hundred thousand items are exhibited. archaeological finds. No museum in the world can boast of such a high concentration of exhibits.
History of the museum's creation
The foundation of the world's richest collection of Egyptian antiquities was laid by the French scientist Auguste Mariette, founder and first director of the Cairo Museum. Having become interested in Egyptology under the influence of his friend and relative, the famous Champollion, Mariette went to work at the Louvre Museum, and in 1850 he was sent to Egypt to search for ancient manuscripts.
Instead of searching the library archives, the young Egyptologist enthusiastically began excavating the Memphis necropolis at Saqqara, as well as in other places. The scientist sent his findings to the Louvre. He has the honor of opening the Alley of Sphinxes and the Serapeum, the necropolis sacred bulls Apisov.
Returning to France, Mariette continued to work at the Louvre, but already in 1858, the ruler of Egypt, Said Pasha, invited him to head the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Arriving in Egypt, Mariette waged an energetic fight against the theft of ancient artifacts, not forgetting about archaeological research. Under his leadership, the Great Sphinx was finally cleared of centuries-old sand deposits. In 1859, in the Cairo suburb of Bulaq, at the request of a scientist, it was built special building for archaeological finds. This was the beginning of the Cairo Museum collection.
In 1878, during a flood, the museum building was partially flooded and many exhibits were damaged. After this, it was decided to build a new large building in a safer place, and the collection was transported for storage to the palace of the ruler of Egypt, Ismail Pasha.
For his services to Egyptology, Mariette was elected a member of a number of European academies, and the Egyptian authorities awarded him the title of pasha. Auguste Mariet died in 1881. The scientist’s ashes, according to his will, rest in a sarcophagus in the courtyard of the Cairo Museum.
The current building was built in 1900, and two years later the museum received its first visitors.
Since then, the museum's collection has been continuously expanded. However, there were also dark moments in his history. During the Arab Spring in 2011, during a popular demonstration, looters destroyed several storefronts and stole at least 18 exhibits. The robbery was stopped by other demonstrators, after which the military took the museum under their protection.
Museum exposition
It would take several years to view all the exhibits in the Cairo Museum. Even experts from time to time find in its storerooms something completely new for themselves. Therefore, we will focus on the most interesting of the artifacts stored here.
The museum's exhibits are arranged chronologically and thematically. At the entrance, the visitor is greeted by impressive statues of Amenhotep III and his wife Tiye. The image of the queen is not inferior in size to the sculpture of the pharaoh, which contradicts Egyptian tradition.
The ground floor houses statues of all sizes, dating from the Predynastic era to the Roman conquest. Here are also fragments of the Great Sphinx - parts of a false beard and uraeus, images of a cobra from the pharaoh's crown.
Of particular interest are sculptural images pharaohs of the most ancient era - a statue of the builder of the first pyramid, Djoser, the only surviving image of Cheops - a figurine from Ivory, as well as a magnificent example of ancient Egyptian art - a diorite statue of Pharaoh Khafre. The 10-meter statue of Ramses II made of pink granite stands out for its majesty.
The burial goods from the tomb of Queen Hetepheres, the mother of Cheops, date back to the era of the Old Kingdom. The tomb, discovered in 1925, turned out to be untouched. The finds made there, including the queen's palanquin, her bed, precious boxes and jewelry, give an idea of the luxury that surrounded the pharaoh's family.
An unforgettable impression will be made by visiting the “hall of mummies”, where the visitor finds himself face to face with the rulers of Egypt, including the legendary Seti I, Ramses II, Thutmose III, Amenhotep II, conquerors and builders who left behind majestic architectural monuments. The hall maintains a special microclimate that promotes the preservation of mummies.
Of great value are the artifacts from the reign of the reformer pharaoh Akhenaten, who tried to replace traditional religion Egyptians cult of one solar god Aten. In just a few years, Akhenaten built a new capital, Akhetaten, which was abandoned after the death of the pharaoh, and his name was cursed by the priests. All memory of him was destroyed, but in the ruins of Akhetaten many works of art from the era of Akhenaten were preserved.
Pharaoh was a reformer not only in the sphere of religion. The frozen canons of art were violated during his reign; sculptural and pictorial images of people and animals are distinguished by expressiveness, naturalness, and lack of idealization. It was a real revolution in art. This period dates back to famous image Queen Nefertiti.
Tutankhamun's tomb
The real gem of the museum is the collection of objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun, the only royal tomb that remains intact. In total, more than 3,500 objects were discovered in the tomb, half of which are exhibited in the halls of the museum.
The tomb contained everything that a pharaoh might need in afterlife- pieces of furniture, dishes, jewelry, writing instruments, even the royal chariot. A masterpiece of furniture art is a gilded throne carved from wood, studded with precious stones. A statue of Tutankhamun, depicted standing on the back of a panther, his hunting weapon, even the shirt and sandals in which he was buried are also on display here.
The museum displays four wooden sarcophagi. Inside them, nested inside each other, was the last one, golden, containing the mummy of the pharaoh. Small golden sarcophagi intended for the entrails of the deceased are also exhibited here.
The main treasure of the exhibition, and perhaps the entire museum, is the gold death mask pharaoh, decorated with azure. The mask is perfectly preserved and perfectly conveys the facial features of the ancient ruler. Tutankhamun's mask is a unique business card Cairo Museum and one of the symbols of Egypt.
A few hours of traveling through time past the display cases of the Cairo Museum will leave indelible memories. Even after a cursory acquaintance with the incredibly rich collection, it becomes clear why the Cairo Museum is often called the main attraction of Egypt.
The Cairo Egyptian Museum is a unique place and one of the main attractions of the Land of the Pharaohs. It is located right on the central square of the Egyptian capital. This museum complex founded back in 1885 and on this moment it is home to the largest concentration of historical artifacts in the world.
The Cairo Museum displays about 100 thousand artifacts telling about different periods history of Egypt. It is believed that several years will not be enough to explore them all. And since tourists come to Egypt for a very a short time, it is best to focus on the most popular and breathtaking exhibits of Egyptian history.
Treasury of Egyptian History
The collection of the Cairo Museum is truly unique. Each tourist, passing through numerous halls, makes a fascinating journey into the mysterious ancient Egyptian civilization, amazing with the grandeur and splendor of its creations. All artifacts in the museum are arranged chronologically and thematically. The first floor is occupied by stone sculptures made of limestone, basalt, granite from ancient times until the period of the conquest of Egypt by the Romans. Among them is a magnificent sculptural composition Pharaoh Mikerin, surrounded by goddesses.
Those who were impressed by the pyramids at Saqqara, Dashur and Giza will certainly be delighted by the original statue of Pharaoh Djoser. The only surviving image of the great pharaoh Cheops, the creator of the pyramid at Giza, is also kept here - an ivory figurine. And the statue of his son Khafre is one of the masterpieces of ancient Egyptian sculpture. The museum also displays several stone fragments found directly above the head of the Great Sphinx. These are parts of the ceremonial beard and king cobra that once adorned the statue of Khafre.
One cannot ignore the hall in which the images of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife, Queen Nefertiti, whose beauty is legendary, are kept. Famous photos her profile speaks volumes about the beauty and sophistication of her features. Also, the National Cairo Museum is famous for its many images of Pharaoh Ramses the Great, who, according to legend, pursued Moses in the Sinai Desert. Be sure to look at it in the hall of royal mummies - this spectacle leaves no one indifferent.
And of course, who wouldn’t want to look at the treasures of Tutankhamun’s tomb? These priceless exhibits occupy almost half of the second floor of the museum building - 1,700 artifacts located in more than 10 rooms. Here you can find a majestic statue of Tutankhamun standing on the back of a panther, a throne made of solid wood, decorated with gold and precious minerals, gold amulets, and sarcophagi.
It is known that this ruler died very young, at the age of 18, and his death was caused by an accident. He died of malaria, which developed after he suffered a compound fracture of his knee in a fall from his chariot. The museum contains small sarcophagus boxes in which the organs of the young king were placed. And, of course, the most famous treasure of Tutankhamun is the golden mask that covered the face of the found mummy. This is one of the most valuable antiquities housed in the Egyptian National Museum in Cairo. A photo of the mask can be easily found on the Internet - it is so beautiful and so well preserved that it is impossible not to feel delighted when looking at it.
A separate room is reserved for the treasures of Queen Hetepheres, mother of Cheops, creator of the most famous and largest pyramid in Giza. This is a large throne, and a bed, and a stretcher covered with gold, and boxes decorated with jewelry, and bracelets. There are huge sarcophagi here different eras, made of red and black granite, granite sphinxes, spoons made of the most valuable types of wood.
In the 3rd millennium BC, someone wrote on the walls of the Great Pyramids: “O Pharaoh, you did not leave dead, you left alive!” The person who wrote these lines had no idea how right he turned out to be. The whole story ancient egypt collected within the walls of the Cairo Egyptian Museum. Only here can you fully feel the strength and power of the greatest ancient civilization, and this phenomenon could not be repeated by any other state.
Opening hours of the Cairo Egyptian Museum
The National Museum of Antiquities is located in the very center of Cairo, on the main square. It can be reached by metro (line 1, Urabi station). The Cairo Egyptian Museum welcomes tourists every day from 9.00 to 17.00.
The ticket costs 60 Egyptian pounds, but if you want to visit the hall of mummies, you will have to pay an additional 10 pounds.
