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by Gaires2359

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

October 29, 2004

Passing through the gates
After your hour-long queue during high season, you will have to go through a security check, passing your belongings through an x-ray scanner. Objectionable items need to be placed in the left-luggage, but this is not very safe, as there are no locks at the storage and any tourist can claim to own your item and walk out with it. So it’s best not to bring too many things with you on your visit. Only your valuables, like your cash and passport, will do.

If you'd like to bring your camera into the museum, you may, but you'd have to pay to purchase a permit for its use inside. This is in the form of a sticker, which needs to be placed on the camera to be used within its premises. Take note that photography is only allowed between the hours of 9am to 2pm. Flash photography is not allowed at any time. Costs for the permit range between EGP$10 for automatics to EGP$175 for pro SLRs. Video cameras cost EGP$100. EGP$10 is roughly equal to US$1.61. EGP$100 is equal to $16. (As of the end of Oct 2004).

There is a small souvenir shop to the right of the entrance offering reproductions of some of the more popular artifacts exhibited in the museum, including the blue fertility hippos made popular by the Metropolitan Museum store. You can also purchase cartouches spelling out your name in Egyptian hieroglyphics. But for these, you'd need to return after your visit for them. So if you're interested, place your order before you tour the place. There are other shops offering the same, but likely for a fraction less. Other collectibles popular with tourists are little lapis lazuli scarabs (as good-luck charms) and basalt Bastet cat statues.

It costs EGP$20 per person, with an extra charge of EGP$40 for the Royal Mummy Room; children are half price.

Phone: +20 (0)2 579 6974; Fax: +20 (0)2 579 4596.

The museum is found on Mariette Pasha Street, on the north side of Tahrir Square, right next to the Nile Hilton Hotel, whose sign is very prominently displayed as you come onto the roundabout.

Opening hours of the museum are 9am to 6:30pm daily, with the last admission at 6pm sharp. During Ramadan, it closes at 3pm.

by Gaires2359

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

October 29, 2004

Outgrowing the two homes it was previously housed in, the museum then settled on its present, purpose-built premises in 1902. It has more than 120,000 items on display and is rumoured to have another 150,000 stored in the basement!

The pride of the museum is without doubt the collection of artifacts recovered from the tomb of Tut-ankh-amun. However, that is not all the musuem is famous for, as it also houses excellent pieces from every period of ancient Egyptian history, dating from as far back as the Narmer Palette (c. 3100 BC) through 2nd-century AD portraits of the Graeco-Roman era.

Located on two levels, the artifacts on the ground floor are organised in a somewhat chronological order, running clockwise from the entrance and atrium, while the first-floor collection is arranged by themes. The central hall houses a large monumental statuary. While not particularly large, the museum is densely packed with artifacts, seemingly displayed haphazardly, but there is a method to the madness. Anybody with more than a passing interest in ancient Egypt will need more than one visit to take in everything.

During peak tourist seasons, the museum is busy with long queues to enter, and on the inside, even longer waiting lines just to see Tut-ankh-amun's funeral mask. The life-sized gold mask is just one of 1,700 items retrieved from the tomb. To view the mask at some leisure, it is best to visit just as the museum opens or late in the afternoon and make straight for the boy king's galleries on the first floor, then visiting the rest afterward.

For main highlights besides the Tut-ankh-amun Galleries, be sure to see the Fayoum Potraits, which depict remarkably lifelike Egyptians from the Graeco-Roman period. There is also an exhibit of exquisite ancient Egyptian jewellery, with necklaces made with beads of gold and lapis lazuli from around the 11th century BC. Also, be sure to visit the Amarna Room, with exhibits from Akhenaten's rule. During the 15-year reign of this radical king, not only was the old religion abandoned, but also was its art. A new style developed in which figures were depicted with elongated heads and protruding bellies. If you follow a clockwise direction, you will finish the ground floor tour in the wing where you'll meet Prince Rahotep and his bride Nofret, two life-size limestone statues (c. 2620BC) which were found in their mastaba near the Meidum Pyramid in Fayoum. You will also see the statue of Ka-Aper, whose eyes seem to be glaring at you with their copper rims, corneas of clear rock crystal, and whites of opaque quartz, drilled and filled with black paste!