One of the cradles of human civilization, Egypt has an unbelievably rich backstory, and museums in Cairo and elsewhere across the country showcase intriguing ancient treasures that give a glimpse into the lives of pharaohs and the common people of antiquity. While most travellers visit Egypt for its pharaonic history, museums in Egypt also cover more contemporary aspects of the country, including Islamic art through the ages, Christian culture, and life in Nubia.
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Cairo’s Egyptian Museum is the grandaddy of museums in the Middle East. Opened in 1902 in a pastel-pink building on Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum sits at the heart of the capital. This museum in Cairo is the oldest in the region and contains more than 170,000 artifacts – the biggest collection of pharaonic artifacts in the world – spread across 100 halls. Get to grips with the depth and breadth of history at the Egyptian Museum before you visit the archaeological sites themselves.
Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Located just a few kilometres from the Pyramids of Giza, the soon-to-open Grand Egyptian Museum is sure to be a cultural blockbuster and one of the top Egypt museums. This new museum in Cairo is set to house all of Tutankhamun’s golden grave goods in one place for the first time, alongside hundreds of thousands of other objects, many of which have never been seen by the public. A colossal statue of Ramses II greets visitors under a glass atrium, and a boardwalk that links the museum to the pyramids is in the works.
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo
Unveiled in 2021, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization looks at Egypt over the millennia, from pre-Dynastic cultures to mediaeval and modern artefacts. If you don’t have time for multiple museums on your trip to Egypt, the NMEC is a good one-stop shop that covers pharaonic history as well as the Greco-Roman, Coptic, and Islamic eras. The museum’s star attraction is its collection of 20 royal mummies, including Hatshepsut, Ramses II and Seti I, set in a dimly lit subterranean space.
Nubian Museum, Aswan
This museum in southern Egypt showcases the culture of the mighty Nubian empire, a region that stretched from the first cataract of the Nile (near modern-day Aswan, where the museum is located) to the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile, now in Khartoum, Sudan. Ancient Egypt and Nubia were long engaged in a tug-of-war: the New Kingdom pharaohs conquered Nubia around 1500 BCE, but Nubia later emerged victorious and ruled Egypt in the 25th Dynasty. Sadly, much of Nubia was flooded after the construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1970, and the museum also details UNESCO’s project to salvage as many temples and historic treasures as possible before they were forever lost in the rising waters of Lake Nasser.
Luxor Museum, Luxor
With hundreds of tombs and temples galore, Luxor is often nicknamed the “world’s largest open-air museum,” but before you go exploring the archaeological sites, it’s helpful to get oriented at the city’s main museum, arguably Egypt’s best museum outside of Cairo. The Luxor Museum isn’t as packed as the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but that’s for the best, and its thoughtfully selected displays are more digestible and come from local excavations.
Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo
See stunning displays and beautifully crafted works at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, which contains a cache of historic objects from around the Muslim world. Fountains made of intricate mosaics lie below finely carved mashrabiya (wooden lattice work window screens). Most of the pieces are shown chronologically by empire (Umayyad, Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman), while a few rooms are dedicated to specific themes, such as science, medicine, and textiles and carpets. This spot is rarely visited by tour groups, making it ideal for a peaceful afternoon at a Cairo museum.
St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai
Tucked into the caramel-coloured mountains of the Sinai peninsula’s interior, St Catherine’s is the world’s oldest operational Christian monastery, founded more than 1,500 years ago and built next to the shrub that’s thought to be the burning bush from which God spoke to Moses. Inside the walled compound, a few areas are accessible to visitors, including the beautifully decorated Church of the Transfiguration and the Monastery Museum, which houses a priceless collection of Byzantine icons and artefacts. Peer through the protective cases to witness ancient chalices, crosses and manuscripts, such as the famous Codex Sinaiticus, which contains the oldest surviving complete version of the New Testament.
Be aware of the limited opening hours – this is still a working monastery after all. Hotels in Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab run tours, which often entail climbing Mt. Sinai in the dark to watch the sunrise over the mountain peaks and then returning to the valley to visit the monastery once it opens in the morning. Modest dress is required (no shorts, and women should cover their shoulders).
Coptic Museum, Cairo
Learn more about the Copts and the early days of Christianity at the Coptic Museum in Cairo. Located in the oldest part of the capital, the Coptic Museum has fascinating displays of manuscripts, religious icons and textiles. The building itself is worthy of admiration, showing off fresco-covered niches, wooden ceilings, and other architectural artefacts. Just outside of the museum are several churches and religious buildings worth exploring, including the intricately decorated Hanging Church, one of the most historic churches in Egypt, so named because it hangs above the gate of an ancient Roman fortress.
Mummification Museum, Luxor
If you need a break from the dusty archaeological sites of Luxor, step inside the air-conditioned Mummification Museum, on the Nile riverfront in Luxor. This small Egyptian museum reveals the process of mummification step by step and shows the slightly gruesome tools of the trade, such as the spoons and spatulas used for scooping the brain out of the skull. Of course, the museum has plenty of mummies, including that of a 21st Dynasty high priest, but mummification wasn’t just for the human deceased – look out for mummified cats, crocodiles, and baboons too. At the entrance, Anubis, the black jackal-headed god of mummification, watches over the scene.
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria
The coastal Mediterranean city of Alexandria was a major centre of learning in ancient times, thanks to the Great Library of Alexandria, one of the largest in the world more than two millennia ago. That ancient house of knowledge disappeared in the Roman era, but its legacy continues to the modern day at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, opened in 2002. Join a free tour to learn about the library’s history and mission before visiting the four on-site museums.
The Antiquities Museum has a range of artefacts that span Egypt’s eras from the pharaonic to the Islamic that were discovered during museum excavations or were dredged up from the nearby Mediterranean seabed. The Manuscript Museum shows off a collection of historic books, including the only surviving scroll from the ancient library, while the Sadat Museum remembers the third president of Egypt, in office from 1970 to 1981. The History of Science Museum highlights the work of ancient Greek and Arab scientists and is aimed toward school-age kids.
