Egyptian Museum Cairo

update Feb 07: Egyptian Museum Cairo: Royal mummies unharmed & King Tut's treasures to be restored
update Jan 31: Egypt Protests Sees Artefacts and Mummies at Cairo Museum Damaged

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, to give it its full name, is home to some 120,000 of the most treasured Egyptian artefacts in the country. The museum was founded in 1835, near Cairo's Ezbekhaya Gardens, but promptly moved to Boulaq in 1858, to hold the museum's burgeoning collection. However a flooding of the Nile in 1878 caused irreparable damage to the Boulaq building, and the collection found itself in transition, first to Giza, then to its current home in Tahrir Square.

VIDEO: The Basement of the Cairo Museum Featuring Dr Zahi Hawass

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The museum comprises two floors. The first floor is concerned with various methods of Egyptian communication, like currency and papyrus. They range from pre-dynastic Egypt, to the New Kingdom of 1550 - 1070 BC. They also contain artefacts from Rome, Greece, Persia and other civilizations.

The museum also houses artefacts from the tombs of the Egyptian rulers; including those of the immaculately preserved Tutankhamun discovery. Other sarcophagi and treasures show Egyptian rule and decadence throughout its history. The Royal Mummy Room contains 27 royal mummies - yet it was closed on the orders of President Anwar Sadat in 1981. The mummies were soon put out on display again, just four years later in 1985.

There are various complaints about the Egyptian Museum - labelling is scarce, the walkway is not as smoothly orientated and guides are barely helpful. Yet the objects confined in the building speak rather for themselves, throwing light on one of the world's truly awesome civilizations.

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