I had looked forward to today's excursion since I first heard of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo as a child. Along with visiting the pyramids at Giza, it had a lifelong ambition to visit this museum and view the treasures of antiquity.
Cairo Museum of Egyptian Antiquities
The Antiquities Museum is situated in Mariette Pasha Street on the north side of Tahrir Square (next to the Nile Hilton Hotel). There was apparently some damage sustained during the revolution when riots erupted; however, no damage was apparent when we visited.
It would take at least a week to see all of the museum’s contents, but a brief visit gave a glimpse into the world’s greatest repository of more than 120,000 ancient Egyptian artefacts. It has actually been calculated that if you spend one minute at each exhibit it will take nine months to see the whole collection!
The collection of Egyptian antiquities began in the 1830s in an attempt to stem the tide of Egypt’s treasures being stolen or otherwise removed from the country. The present collection was begun by Auguste Mariette who had originally been sent to Egypt by the College de France to collect Coptic Papyri. Mariette supervised many important excavations during his thirty years in Egypt, becoming a dominant force in the development of Egyptological progress and as a guardian of the monuments. He was appointed the first Director of Ancient Monuments in Egypt and head of a new national museum at Bulaq in 1863 – the first national antiquities museum in the Middle East. The collection was then briefly transferred to an annex of Ismail Pasha’s palace at Giza when the Bulaq museum was flooded and later stored in a building in the Citadel. The present museum The collection of Egyptian antiquities began in the 1830s in an attempt to stem the tide of Egypt’s treasures being stolen or otherwise removed from the country. The present collection was begun by Auguste Mariette who had originally been sent to Egypt by the College de France to collect Coptic Papyri. Mariette supervised many important excavations during his thirty years in Egypt, becoming a dominant force in the development of Egyptological progress and as a guardian of the monuments. He was appointed the first Director of Ancient Monuments in Egypt and head of a new national museum at Bulaq in 1863 – the first national antiquities museum in the Middle East. The collection was then briefly transferred to an annex of Ismail Pasha’s palace at Giza when the Bulaq museum was flooded and later stored in a building in the Citadel. The present museum was officially inaugurated on November 15, 1902, in a building designed by French architect Marcel Dourgnon.was officially inaugurated on November 15, 1902, in a building designed by French architect Marcel Dourgnon.
The most popular by far of the museum’s treasures are housed in the Tutankamun gallery on the upper floor. These remarkable artefacts from the boy-king’s tomb, discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, are now housed in a specially lit, temperature-controlled gallery which has restricted entry. There are 3000 pieces, including the famous gold funerary mask and coffin, the shrines and tomb furniture which are much more impressive than they look in photographs, almost outshining anything else in the museum.
The museum also houses a superb collection of royal and private statuary, reliefs and paintings from all eras as well as many smaller artefacts for daily or funerary use (often the most interesting). There are the complete contents from the Dynasty I tomb of Hemaka, the painstakingly reconstructed bedroom furniture of Queen Hetepheres (Khufu’s mother) from her Giza tomb, beautiful jewellery from the Middle Kingdom as well as contents from many of the Theban New Kingdom tombs and the later Tanite tombs of the Delta. Other famous pieces not to be missed include the Narmer Palette (Dynasty I) the huge diorite statue of Khafre (Dynasty IV), and the exhibits of the Amarna collection which include a colossal statue of the ‘heretic’ king.
Last but not least there is the royal mummy room which is second only to the Tutankhamun gallery in popularity. This room was closed for several years but is now open to the public again after restoration but displays only a proportion of the 27 mummies in the collection.
The museum also houses a library which specialises in ancient Egyptian civilisation and is considered one of the most important libraries of Egyptology in the world. However, borrowing or reading is only allowed for research students or post-graduates with special permission from the Egyptian High Council of Monuments.
The afternoon was to be spent in a free choice activity and many people headed to see Islamic Cairo and visit the bazaar, however we headed to the Sqqara and the step pyramid. To reach Sqqara we travelled through the more rural areas of Cairo gaining an insight into daily life.
Saqqara / Sakkara pyramids
Saqqara is one of the most extensive archaeological sites in Egypt! It was the cemetery for Memphis, the capital of Ancient Egypt, yet it is still one of the virgin archaeological sites, despite the fact that so much has already been found there!
The site is dominated by the Step Pyramid of King Zoser, which goes back to 2700 BC. It is one of the oldest stone structures in the world!
Sakkara is also the site of many tombs from the 1st and 2nd Dynasties. Most are made out of mud bricks, but some tombs are made of limestone, decorated with daily life scenes. Sakkara is divided into:
Southern Sakkara, which is dominated by the step Pyramid.
-Northern Sakkara, which is dominated by the Pyramid of King Titi, and Mastaba tombs of the old kiThe Step Pyramid of King Zoser, and it surrounding complex:
The Pyramid of King Titi
The tomb of Mereruka and the tomb of Kagimni
The Mastaba tomb of Ti, and the tomb of Ptah-Hotep
The step pyramid was built for King Zoser, one of the greatest Kings of the third dynasty (2721-2780 BC). Originally meant as a tomb, this Pyramid was designed and built by his great architect Imhotep. The Pyramid is built as a step Pyramid, 60m high, and consisting of 6 steps; each one built on top of each other and smaller than the one below.
Today it is considered as one of the oldest stone structures built by man, and the first time the Ancient Egyptians would attempt to use limestone. Zoser's Pyramid is entirely built of limestone, small bricks of limestone, and not of the best quality, and yet it has remained for more than 4700 years!
The Pyramid's four sides are very nearly aligned to the four cardinal points. On the northern side is the original entrance of the Pyramid.
On the north-western side a little room is built with a gradient angle, similar to the Pyramid itself. In there was found a beautiful statue of King Zoser made of limestone, it was moved to the Egyptian museum in Cairo and replaced by a replica.
The northern entrance is not used anymore, as it is very dangerous! Any people, who are allowed into the Pyramid, use another entrance that was made in the 26th Dynasty, on the southern side of the Pyramid. When you go underneath the Pyramid, there is strange feeling that haunts you, especially when you remember that you are exploring 4,700 years of time. Down there it is a maze of little corridors and tunnels! Found in some of these tunnels more than 30, 000 jars, which were made out of several types of stone, alabaster, marble, diorite and slate.
To the southern side of the Pyramid, you will find a burial shaft, almost 28 meter deep, which is believed to be a symbolic tomb for the King, as Kings of the first three Dynasties used to build two tombs for themselves; one a real tomb and the other, a cenotaph.
The Pyramid is surrounded by a rectangular enclosure wall that measure 277m by 544m, mostly ruined today, but it was originally 10m high. You can see parts of it today.
In the southeastern part of the wall you will find the entrance to the complex, and most of what you are going to see, when you get through this door, is recently restored! You will notice at the end of the little hall that the door leads you to; there is an imitation of two doors, swung open. The entrance leads you to a colonnade that has 40 columns. Each column is attached to the wall behind, the style is called engaged columns, and they were built to ensure that they would be able to endure the heavy weight of the ceiling.
In-between the columns a large numbers of little rooms were created; they once contained statues representing King Zoser as ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. The long hypostyle hall leads to an open courtyard, which was used by the King, performing the rituals of the jubilee feast, called the Hep-Sed festival, one of the rituals performed by the Kings of Ancient Egypt to ensure that they are able to rule the country for the next 30 years.
To the right of this open courtyard, Imhotep built a Temple known as the Hep-Sed Temple, so that the King would be able to practice the ritual in the after life.
Behind the Temple, and further north, you will notice two buildings behind each other; they are called the northern and southern houses, where the King is supposed to host the dignitaries who have come to attend the King's ritual in the Temple, and his recognition as a King of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Next to the Step Pyramid complex, on the southern side, you will see the ruined Pyramid of King Unas, which dates back to the end of the 5th Dynasty. It was the first Pyramid that had inscriptions decorating the walls of the burial chamber! There are more than 700 incantations, which are supposed to help the dead King throughout the afterlife, and they are known as the Pyramid texts. Unfortunately the Pyramid has been closed for more than 6 years now.
On returning to our hotel, we attended our Egyptian farewell dinner saying a tearful goodbye to Hanan. In the morning we were due to fly to Jordan on the next leg of our journey. We enjoyed our last night in beautiful, majestic and mystical Egypt.
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