The Cairo Egyptian Musuem is filled with Egyptian Artifacts. Currently
they are rearranging and cataloguing to move objects to other musuems
such as the new one being built at the Giza Pyramids. Still the Egyptian
Museum is worth a full day or more if you can afford the time.
The Egyptian
Museum is located on a central Cairo square, Tahir Square, and within
walking distance of our hotel, Shepheard's. The square is a central
bus depot. Locals catch transport and sell the tourists papyrus
and trinkets when the opportunity arises.
The original museum was built
in 1857, but proved too small to hold the growing collections. Once
proper export controls were established and the professions of Egyptologist
and Archeology focused on researching the 4000 year old civilization,
antiquities flowed in. The museum was moved once to a palace, and
finally the existing building was constructed.
In the entrance courtyard
at the Cairo Egyptian Museum there is a shrine to the founders of the
museum and the sarcophagus of Auguste Mariette who first gathered the
vast collection together in 1858.