Cairo Museums

The Egyptian Museum

It is probably the main museum of the country. Its collection includes over 120000 items; amongst them many objects that were founded in the tombs of kings and members of the royal families of the middle Kingdom at Dahshur in 1894. The museum exhibits also the contents of the royal tombs of the pharaohs Tuthmosis III, Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III and Horemheb as well as several artifacts from the tomb of the famous Tutankhamun,and many objects from several royal and private tombs found at Tanis (in the Nile’s delta). These objects belonged to the 21st and 22nd dynasties. There is also a important collection of items belonged to the period of the pharaoh Akhenaton (the first monotheistic king of the world).

Facade of the Egyptian Museum

The collection includes many pieces of Egyptian jewelry (items of gold, silver and precious stones) like bracelets, diadems, scarabs, earrings, collars and much more. Besides, there is a room dedicated to the royal mummies; this room contains 27 royal mummies amongst them, the mummies of: Seqenenre, Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Tuthmosis I, Tuthmosis II, Tuthmosis III, Seti I, Ramses II, Ramses III, Amenhotep II, Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III, Merenptah, Seti II, Siptah, Ramses IV, Ramses V, Ramses VI and three women and a child.

The museum’s collections are exhibited in the two main floors. On the ground floor it can see an extensive collection of papyrus (in Greek, Latin, Arabic and Egyptian hieroglyphs) and coins (made of gold, silver and bronze) used in the ancient world. The upper floor contains a great variety of items amongst them a group of coffins of the kings, queens, priests and priestesses from the New Kingdom and Late Period. The Egyptian museum opens every day from 9:00 to 17:00 and is located at “Maydan Tahrir”  square. Admission costs 20 LE for adults and 10 LE for children.

Hall of the Egyptian Museum

Egyptian national Military Museum

It is situated within Cairo Citadel and contains a great collection of weapons, medals and costumes used by the Egyptian troops from Pharaonic times to present day; including artifacts of the Anglo-French-Israeli attack in 1956. The museum owns also 220 paints of battles in Egypt, as well as scale models and life-size simulations depict several of Egypt's key battles. In front to the museum’s façade, there is the statue in honor to “Ibrahim Pasha”, one of the greatest warriors of the modern Egyptian history. This museum is located in the Citadel Historic area. You can visit it from 8:00 to 17:30 in summer and from 8:00 to 16:30 in winter.

Military Museum

The Imhotep Museum

It is located at foot of the Saqqara necropolis complex, near Memphis (the former capital of the ancient Egypt). It was inaugurated in April 2006 by Dr. Zahi Hawass, who was General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The modern museum was named in honor to the famous Egyptian architect Imhotep, who was the first architect that used stone for construction on a large scale; he designed also the pyramid of Zoser, which was the first pyramid of Egypt. The museum has 5 halls: Main Hall, Model Tomb Hall, New Discoveries, Theater and Model of the Funerary Complex and the Library of Jean Philippe Lauer. The halls of the museum exhibit mainly masterpieces from Saqqara, as well as a Greco-Roman mummy found during an excavation in Tetis and many pieces of ceramic. There is also a statue, which represents a scribe of the 5th dynasty and was found in Abu Sir. The Imhotep museum is definitely one of the main museums of Cairo and Egypt.

The Agriculture Museum

Agriculture has been always the main economic activity in Egypt; therefore, in 1930s, the Egyptian government decided to build an agriculture museum. This museum provides a complete record of the history of the agriculture from the prehistoric to the modern times. It works in the former palace of Princess Fatma since 1938 and was the first museum of its kind in the world. The museum occupies now around 20000 square meters. It has 10 halls, it highlights the hall dedicated to the ancient Egyptian Agriculture. Another important hall is the “museum of bread”, which includes information about bread in Egypt since the ancient times. The museum exhibits also many artifacts used for the agriculture during all the history of the human race. There are also many gardens, which contain a great variety of trees, bushes, flowers and rare plants. It is located at “Al-Sawra” street in the Dokki neighborhood.

Museum of Islamic Art

This museum saves in its 23 rooms, the main collection of antiquities from the Islamic periods of the Egyptian history. The items that compose the museum’s collection come from many former mosques. The museum exhibits a fine collection of mosque lamps, pulpits, mushrabiyya window screens, Iranian and Turkish carpets, inlaid metal pieces and much more. It is located at “Bab Al-Khalq” and opens from Saturday to Thursday from 9:00 to 16:00. On Friday, it only opens from 9:30 to 11:00 and from 13:30 to 16.00.

The Coptic Museum

It is situated at the old Downtown of Cairo in the Coptic Christian quarter. This museum was founded in 1910 to provide a home for many Christian objects from the monasteries of Egypt. The museum’s collection offers a good image of the history of Christian Egypt. The museum’s building is surrounded by some former Coptic churches as well as several gardens and patios. The collection is composed by over 16 000 items amongst textiles, tapestries, ceramics and woodworks from 300 to 1000 AD and they illustrate a period little-known period of the Egyptian history. This museum is located at “Mar Girgis” metro stop and you can visit it from Saturday to Thursday from 8:00 to 16.00.

Grand Egyptian Museum

It will be of the most modern and important museum of Egypt. This museum will be located at Giza near the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Its design was the result of a competition of 1516 designs of architects from 83 different countries. It will occupy 50 hectares of land and it aims to be a great world center to illustrate Egyptian civilization in a friendly and informative environment. In the future, this museum will house the largest collection of Egyptian items in the world, including many objects from the Egyptian museum of Cairo, like the treasures of Tutankhamun. It is hoped that the museum will be ready for opening in 2009.

Some other important museums are:

• Abdeeen Palace Museum, at Moustafa Abdel Raziq Street.

• Al-Gawhara (Jewel) Palace Museum, at Citadel Historic Area.

• Ethnological Museum, at 109 Kasr el-Aini Street.

• Gayer Anderson Museum, at 4 Maydan Ibn Tulun.

• Museum of Islamic Ceramics, at Prince Ibrahim's Palace at Zamalek.

• National Geographic Society Museum, at Kasr El Aini Street.

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