On my recent trip to Egypt to visit the ancient tombs and temples, I found time to visit the extensive collection at the Cairo Museum twice, which still wasn't enough time to see the entire collection. Two sprawling floors with many rooms house the mummified bodies of the famous pharaohs, treasures from King Tut's tomb and countless statues. It would take days to see all that the Cairo Museum possesses. Although the collection is large with many exciting pieces the museum itself is in disrepair. It is evident that the $12 entrance fees are not going to paint, display cases or cleaning crews, but even the mess couldn't distract from the famous pieces that visitors come here to see. I was disappointed to find that taking photos inside the museum is prohibited but the sculpture garden has many items that were worth photographing.
The sculpture garden in front of the museum. A nice place to rest after a long day at the museum.
Sculpture of Goddess Hathor in the garden
Part of an obelisk
To make up for the disappointment of not being able to photograph the inside collection, I was excited to find in the garden a particular item that I was looking for- the counterpart to the pink granite sphinx that I saw a few weeks ago at the Louvre (that I wrote about in my post “Searching for Mummies in Paris”). There wasn't a label marking the sphinx in the garden but I was aware that the counterpart to the Louvre sphinx is housed at the Cairo Museum so when I compared the hieroglyphics and the cartouches carved into the sides of the two sphinxes the hieroglyphics matched. This 9.5 ton pink granite sphinx rests in the sunlight outside the front entrance of the Cairo Museum and although the one in the Louvre is in better condition, it was still interesting to compare the two that used to be side by side on the Nile in Tanis, Egypt and that are now 2000 miles apart.
Pink granite sphinx in the front of the Cairo Museum, counterpart to the Louvre's sphinx.
The hieroglyphics match, marking that these used to be a pair many years ago. (Left is from the Cairo Museum garden; Right is from the Louvre Museum in Paris)
The multi-tasking Cairo Museum garden is also a graveyard. Along with many ancient statues, the gardens are also eternal home to François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (1821-1881), French archaeologist, Egyptologist and the founder of the Cairo museum. Mariette's tomb rests in a sitting area to the left of the museum. Mariette is also the writer of the popular play, Aida.
Mariette's tomb in the sitting area of the garden
While in Egypt I visited Saqqara, the site where the Seated Scribe, the highlight of the Louvre's Egyptian collection, was found (referred to in my post "Searching for Mummies in Paris"). This early pyramid complex is located on the left bank of the Ni
le and was home to much of the earliest Pharaonic art including the many seated scribe sculptures found there. The Cairo Museum has an extensive collection of artifacts found in Saqqara with some dating from around 2500 B.C. They have one in particular that is very similar to the seated scribe at the Louvre, complete with life-like sculpted quartz eyes. Below is a picture of the seated scribe found in the Cairo Museum. In this statue, he has a scroll of papyrus in his lap and is ready to write with his right hand but the pen is missing. The band around his neck indicated where a necklace would have been. He has inlaid eyes, fringed with copper representing eye paint. This sculpture dates back to 2470 B.C.
Seated scribe at the Cairo Museum
Saqqara, site where many seated scribes were found.
The Saqqara step pyramid. The first pyramid of Ancient Egypt.
On my second visit to the Cairo Museum I made it for the grand opening of the new Cairo Children's Museum, housed in the lower part of the building. The Children's Museum is extremely well put together, I dare say, more polished then the main museum. Although geared towards children, this museum was still amusing for adults. Along with a small collection of ancient objects, the Children's Museum has many famous Pharaonic art pieces reconstructed out of Legos!
This way to the new Children's Museum!
Lego Pharaoh
Lego Sphinx in the entrance
The most exciting thing to see at the Cairo Museum is the very famous 50 pound, solid gold mask of King Tut and the contents of his tomb found by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922. Seeing the real the mask in person was astonishing. The condition was incredible considering it's over 3000 years old. The gold is extremely shiny and the detail and colors of the lapis, turquoise and quartz were exquisite. This is definitely the highlight of the Cairo Museum. I also got a picture of the reconstructed Lego mask from the Children's Museum!
Comparing the real mask to the Lego version
The city of Cairo with the pyramids in the far background
©2010 Danee Gilmartin All rights reserved
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