We guarantee you’ll enjoy every bit of it

Egypt, the land of pharaohs and thousand minarets, is one of the top countries filled with the world’s greatest historical, cultural, religious and artistic museums.

The government’s constant search for archaeological artifacts lead to great discoveries each and every day.

“The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics showed, within the booklet “Egypt in Figures” for the year 2018, that the total number of museums in Egypt is 72, distributed over 19 governorates, and including 34 archeological and regional museums.” Egypttoday.com

We’ve collected some museums that we think will catch your attention:

1. The Egyptian Museum
2. National museum of Egyptian civilization
3. The museum of Islamic art
4. The Coptic Museum
5. Grand Egyptian Museum
6. Abdeen palace museum
7. Gayer Anderson Museum

1. The Egyptian Museum

“The Egyptian Museum is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, and houses the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world. The museum displays an extensive collection spanning from the Predynastic Period to the Greco-Roman Era.” egmonuments.gov.eg

The Egyptian Museum was built between 1897 till it was inaugurated in the year 1902. It is located in the center of Downtown Cairo, at the Tahrir Square.

The building itself was designed by the French architect Marcel Dourgnon, who won a competition that was held by Khedive Abbas Helmy II to pick the best designs between what the architects presented.

It holds more than 150,000 ancient antiquities mostly famous for Holding:

• Masks of Yuya and Thuya.
• Amenhotep III and Tiye Colossal Statue.
• Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure Statue.
• Narmer Palette.
• Statue of ka-aper.

2. National museum of Egyptian civilization

“The joint efforts of UNESCO, the Egyptian Authorities, and the Ministry of Culture collectively aimed at establishing a musicological institution that reflects the various cultural aspects of Egypt’s rich history through adopting aesthetically and technologically advanced methods used at the 21st renowned museums.” nmec.gov.eg

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization or the NMEC was inaugurated on April 3’rd 2021. It’s located in the middle of Old Cairo, Fustat, Ein el seirah.

You may know or heard of the Museum from (The Pharaohs’ Golden Parade) that was broadcasted live worldwide to welcome 22 Royal Mummies of the kings and queens of Egypt from all the way from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

The museum includes 50,000 artifacts. It is divided into two halls, top hall and bottom hall.

The top hall includes all artifacts and hallmarks of the Egyptian timeline in order from the oldest to the most recent ones so you can move easily through them all.

While the Bottom Hall is designed with specific climate control to preserve the mummies. It’s also designed to give you the feeling of a gigantic Tomb full of the mummies of kings and Queens of Egypt with a little info. about every mummy next to it.

It’s not just a museum, it’s an experience.

3. The museum of Islamic art

“The museum’s building consists of two floors that exhibit a large selection of artifacts from all over the world, covering subjects such as astronomy, medicine, and architecture. The vast collection takes the visitor on a journey through all periods of Islamic history, displaying some of the most magnificent artifacts.” egmonuments.gov.eg

The museum was built in 1880 AD and inaugurated in 1903 AD, then it was restored and reopened in 2017. The museum is built on the design of historic Cairo at the time of Khedive Abbas Helmy ll.

It is located in port said, El-Darb El-Ahmar, Cairo adjacent to the Egyptian National Library at Bab Al-Khalq.

The largest Islamic artifacts in the world are held within the Museum, Including a diversity of wood carvings, Arabic handwriting and decorated ceramics. It contains more than 100,000 artifacts.

You could also visit the museum website for 360-degree photographs. https://www.miaegypt.org

A bonus tip: you should also visit the Amr Ibn Al Aas Mosque and Al Azhar Mosque.

4. The Coptic Museum

The Coptic Museum in Egypt was inaugurated in 1910. It was founded by Marcus Simaika Pasha. He was interested in collecting and recovering lots of Coptic heritage in one place.

He “collected Coptic antiquities and various architectural elements from older churches that were undergoing renovation, and used them to build the museum and establish its collection”.

“Coptic Christianity traces its origins to a visit by Saint Mark in the city of Alexandria in the 1st Century A.D.” egmonuments.gov.eg

The museum is located in the ruins of the fortress of Babylon in Old Cairo, near the hanging church.

Inside the museum you’ll find the largest collection of Coptic Orthodox antiquities, with the merge of Greek, Roman, Pharaonic, Ottoman and Byzantine art and wood work.

A bonus tip: you should also visit the Mokattam Cave-Church and the Hanging Church.

5. The Grand Egyptian Museum

The long-awaited Museum that soon will take over the top of the list of the museums of Egypt is the Grand Egyptian Museum. It is scheduled to open in 2023.

The museum cost is about $ 1 billion. The design of the museum isn’t ordinary, it’s shaped like a chamfered triangle. if you stretch its right and left angles, it will reach the three pyramids of Giza making them a giant triangular shape.

The great hall or Glass entrance of the museum is built with an elevated ceiling to fit the giant ancient statues.

It’s anticipated to have about 100,000 antiquities, including king Ramses II 12m tall statue, and the Golden Mask of Tutankhamun and more antiquities that have never been revealed to the public before.

It is supposed to be a doorway to connect all museums of Egypt and museums abroad together and encourage studies.

6. Abdeen palace museum

The palace was built in 10 years from 1863 till it was inaugurated in 1874.

It was built by an order of the khedive Ismail as one of the official residences for the former ruling monarchy and royal family of Egypt.

The place was named after “Sultan Abdeen Bey, a military leader during the reign of Mohamed Ali who owned a mansion in situ of Abdeen Palace.”

The family of Viceroy Mohamed Ali made Abdeen Palace – as of the epoch of Khedive Ismael – the seat of the government over the period 1872 -1952. This palace remained the main government headquarters during that period of the Egyptian history, and then President Mohamed Anwar Sadat made it the presidency headquarters at his time. presidency.eg

“Abdeen Palace is an example of European architecture in Egypt designed by the French architect Rousseau resembling the European palace at that time.” sis.gov.eg

It’s located in Downtown Cairo, Abdeen Square. The palace consists of many museums inside: Historical Documents Museum, Royal Family Museum and a Presidential Gifts Museum.

The cost of the palace was pretty huge due to the time, it was about 2,700,000 LE.

It’s one of the most luxurious palaces you’ll see.

7. Gayer Anderson Museum

“Geyer Anderson Pasha was an English officer who studied medicine in London. He was assigned as a doctor for the English military in 1904 and was deployed in Egypt in 1907.” egymounuments.gov.eg

He was assigned to live at a house that’s now called the Gayer Anderson Museum; it’s a house located in the Sayyida Zainab neighborhood, Cairo.

Anderson proposed to gather a collection of pharaonic, Islamic, and Asiatic antiquities.

These antiquities would belong to the Egyptian people following his death or when he left Egypt permanently. egymounuments.gov.eg

After he left Egypt, his wish was granted and the house became a museum for everyone to enter.

We hope our little Egyptian Museums tour was helpful for your visit.