Cairo National Museum, Egypt - video. What can be seen in the Cairo Egyptian Museum? Halls of the Old Kingdom

Two people to whom the world owes its creation Cairo Museum, which preserved the creations of the great masters of antiquity, have never been met. One of them - Muhammad Ali, the ruler of Egypt in the first half of the 19th century, an Albanian by origin, who learned to read and write at a fairly mature age, in 1835 by his decree forbade the export of ancient monuments from the country without special permission from the government. The other one is French Auguste Mariette, who in 1850 arrived by ship in Alexandria with the intention of acquiring Coptic and Syriac church manuscripts, not knowing that shortly before this, the Coptic patriarch had forbidden the export of these rarities from the country.

Marietta conquered Egypt, the magnetism of ancient images completely took possession of him, and he began excavations at Saqqara. Unexpected discoveries absorbed him so much that Mariette forgets about the original purpose of his trip, but he is well aware that all artifacts obtained with such difficulty should be preserved for contemporaries and posterity. To do this, you need to control the ongoing excavations and find a place to store and display what was found. Thus were born existing to this day Egyptian Antiquities Service and Cairo Museum which Mariette took over in 1858.

The first building of the museum was located in the quarter Bulak, on the banks of the Nile, in the house where Mariette settled with his family. There he opened four exhibition halls of Egyptian antiquities. The number of valuable finds, including gold jewelry, was constantly growing. A new building was needed to accommodate them, but, as always, financial difficulties arose. Despite the great efforts of Marietta, who had a selfless love for Egypt, his determination and diplomacy, this issue could not be resolved, and the old building was threatened by the annual floods of the Nile. Mariette won the love and respect of the rulers of Egypt, he was invited to the solemn opening ceremony of the Suez Canal, wrote the story that formed the basis of the libretto of the famous opera Aida, was awarded the title of Pasha, but until his death he never saw a new building.

Mariette died in 1881, the sarcophagus with his body was buried in the garden of the Bulak Museum. Ten years later, the collection will move to Giza, to the old residence of Khedive Ismail, Marietta's sarcophagus will follow there, and only in 1902 will his dream of creation of a museum in the center of the capital - Cairo. The building was built on El Tahrir Square by a French architect. In the garden of the new museum, Mariette will find her last resting place, above his marble sarcophagus, located on the left side of the entrance, his bronze statue will rise in full growth, in a traditional Egyptian costume of the late 19th century, with an Ottoman fez on his head. Around - the busts of the world's largest Egyptologists, among them - a sculptural portrait of the outstanding Russian scientist of the early twentieth century, V. S. Golenishchev. Marietta's findings are also exhibited in the garden - the sphinx of Thutmose III made of red granite, the obelisk of Ramses II and other works of monumental art. A huge lobby, about a hundred rooms located on two floors, one hundred and fifty thousand exhibits and thirty thousand items in storerooms covering the five thousand-year history of Ancient Egypt - this is what the Cairo Museum is.

His collection is unique. Moving from hall to hall, the visitor makes an unforgettable journey into the mysterious world of ancient civilization, the cradle of human culture, striking in the abundance and magnificence of its man-made deeds. The exhibits are arranged thematically and chronologically. On the first floor - masterpieces of stone sculpture from limestone, basalt, granite from pre-dynastic to Greek-Roman times. Among them is the famous pharaoh Khafre statue, the builder of the second largest pyramid in Giza, made of dark green diorite with light veins, a sculptural composition of the pharaoh Mycerin, shown surrounded by goddesses.

The sculptural group of the married couple of Prince Rahotep and his wife Nofret made of painted limestone is striking in its beauty and subtlety of execution. The wooden statue of Kaaper, called the “Village Headman”, is amazing: at the time of the discovery, the workers of Marietta were struck by the similarity of the features of the statue with the face of the headman of their village.

A separate hall is dedicated to the treasures of Queen Hetepheres, the mother of Pharaoh Cheops, who built the most famous pyramid. Among them are an armchair, a huge bed, a stretcher covered with gold leaf, a casket decorated with inlaid stones in the form of butterfly wings, with twenty silver bracelets. There are also massive sarcophagi of various eras made of red and black granite, pharaohs' boats made of precious woods, pharaohs' granite sphinxes. In a separate room - the colossi of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten and the statue of his wife Nefertiti, whose fame and beauty can only compete with Gioconda Leonardo da Vinci. Here is a far from complete list of what a visitor can see on the first floor of the exposition.

The undoubted masterpiece of the collection is the treasures of Tutankhamun, which became a sensation at the beginning of the 20th century. It is not even the abundance of gold that is striking, although Tutankhamun's mask alone weighs eleven kilograms, but the highest quality of jewelry work with noble metal, precious stones and the most valuable woods. Tutankhamen's jewelry, including wide gold necklaces inlaid with turquoise, lapis lazuli and coral, massive earrings, pectorals with mythological scenes, have no equal. The furniture is made with special elegance, even the huge gold-studded arks, inside of which the sarcophagus was placed, delight with the subtlety of their workmanship. Full of lyricism is the scene on the back of Tutankhamen's chair, showing a loving couple of young rulers of a vast country.

The abundance of unique art objects, exuding amazing energy of images, from the moment the tomb was opened, gave rise to many mysteries, fantasies and legends. An X-ray analysis of the mummy of Tutankhamun, carried out quite recently, showed an undoubted relationship with the reformer pharaoh Akhenaten, who was his father. The cause of Tutankhamun's death was also established - a fall from a chariot during a hunt, as a result of which an open fracture of the patella was obtained and an outbreak of the malaria virus in the body occurred. Even with the high level of development of ancient Egyptian medicine, it was not possible to save the pharaoh, he died at the age of 18.

Those who, after examining the collection of Tutankhamen, decide to go into the next room, where the treasures of the pharaohs from the 21st Egyptian dynasty (XI-X centuries BC) to Roman times, another miracle awaits. If the collection of Tutankhamun was destined to travel half the world, delighting people of different ages and nationalities, then the gold and silver items found in Tanis are much less known. The most impressive are the treasures from the burial of Pharaoh Psusennes I, who ruled from 1045-994 BC. e. And his associates. Among the masterpieces of jewelry art are wide necklaces with pendants and gold pectorals inlaid with carnelian, lapis lazuli, green feldspar, and jasper.

Priceless are bowls made of silver and electrum in the form of a flower or with floral motifs found in the tomb of Undjedbauenjed, the commander of Psusennes I, vessels for ritual libations, golden figurines of goddesses, golden funeral masks of pharaohs. Two sarcophagi made of silver, which was especially valued in Egypt, are unique, because the pharaoh, according to the testimony of the rulers of neighboring countries, had as much gold as sand under his feet, while there were only a few silver items. One sarcophagus 185 centimeters long belongs to Psusennes I. The pharaoh's mask is decorated with gold, which gives volume and grace to his face. In another, Pharaoh Sheshonk II rested. The length of his sarcophagus is 190 centimeters, in place of the funeral mask is the head of a divine falcon.

In a separate room, where a special temperature and humidity are maintained, the mummies of many famous pharaohs of Egypt are kept. They were found in the necropolis of Qurna in 1871 by the brothers Abd el-Rasul, who for many years kept the secret of their discovery and profited from the treasure trade. From time to time, under the cover of night, they were pulled out of the cache and sold on the black market. A quarrel between the brothers over the division of the booty helped stop the robbery. The mummies, carefully hidden by the priests, were raised to the surface after millennia and urgently loaded onto a ship that headed north to deliver the finds to the Cairo Museum. Along the entire route of the ship along both banks of the Nile, there were residents of the surrounding villages. Men fired their guns, saluting their famous ancestors, and women, as if descended from ancient Egyptian reliefs and papyri, with uncovered heads and loose hair, mourned the mummies, escorting them to burial, just as they did in Egypt many centuries ago.

In the middle of the III millennium BC. on the walls of the pyramids of the pharaohs, the words were inscribed: "O pharaoh, you did not leave dead, you left alive." The author of this text did not even suspect what continuation of life awaits the owners of the pyramids and tombs. And although the names of those who built, sculpted and created for their pharaohs have disappeared in the maelstrom of history, the spirit of Ancient Egypt hovers within the walls of the Cairo Museum. Here you can feel the great spiritual power of the ancient civilization, love for your country, a phenomenon unlike any other cultures of the state.

Egyptian Museum in Cairo (Cairo, Egypt) - expositions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.

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One of the most interesting places in Cairo is considered to be the Egyptian Museum, located on Tahrir Square. There is a huge collection of Egyptian antiquities of great interest. It is very difficult to see more than 150 thousand exhibits in one day, but it is worth trying. By the way, the building of the Egyptian Museum is also far from small and has more than 100 rooms.

In 1835, the government of the country was forced to create the Egyptian Antiquities Service, since at that time the plundering of the tombs of the pharaohs reached an unprecedented level. Many locals lived solely off the black market trade in antiquities. Archaeologists often could not do anything, because robbers were vigilantly watching all new excavations. In addition, valuable exhibits were freely exported from the country, since there was no official export ban.

This emergency shocked the French scientist Auguste Mariette. In 1850, he came to Cairo with the sole purpose of stopping the plunder of historical values ​​by any means. He managed to establish the Egyptian Museum in Bulak, which was then moved to Giza. Mariette was so devoted to his profession and to Egypt that he even died in that country. In 1902, all the exhibits of the museum were transferred to Cairo, in a building that was built by the architect Marcel Dunon. In the courtyard of the museum there is a monument to the famous Egyptologist, and his ashes are enclosed in a granite sarcophagus.

For the sake of preserving Egyptian antiquities, the French scientist Auguste Mariette refused a highly paid job at the Louvre and left for Cairo.

Today, the Egyptian Museum houses unique exhibits that are about five thousand years old. Here, visitors can see eleven mummies of pharaohs, sarcophagi, art and household items, and many other things from the life of the ancient Egyptians. Without a doubt, all the expositions deserve close attention. But there are, of course, those that are especially popular with visitors. Of great interest is the tomb of Tutankhamen, found in 1922. The burial of Tutankhamun was the only one that did not suffer from the hands of the robbers. Archaeologists have found a lot of valuable things and treasures that belonged to the pharaoh. Many of them can now be seen in the Egyptian Museum. For example, three sarcophagi are stored here, one of which is made entirely of gold and weighs 110 kg.

A special microclimate has been created in the hall of the Egyptian Museum, where the mummies of the pharaohs are kept.

The exposition of objects related to the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten is also interesting. Amenhotep IV entered the history of Egypt through his reforms. He ordered his people to worship only one god - the Sun-Aten, and not many gods, as was the case during the reign of his ancestors. In honor of the sun, he even took a new name for himself - Akhenaten. After his death, the priests hastened to return to the old foundations of life as soon as possible and ordered to destroy everything connected with Akhenaten. That is why there are very few monuments related to this period of time.

Address: Meret Basha, Qasr an Nile, Cairo

During our trip to Egypt, we could not help but go to Cairo. Yes, we knew that there were riots in the capital of Egypt, we knew that there were military equipment and soldiers on the streets, we knew that we could stop on the road and check documents, we knew that we would have to drive almost 500 km at night, pass many checkpoints with armed soldiers , we knew that there were no organized excursions to Cairo yet, and much more that we knew, but we went anyway.

International group of 14 people. We and the Kazakhs spoke Russian, there was a couple from England, two couples from Germany, a couple from Poland and a couple from France. The group was cheerful, many did not understand each other, they somehow translated somewhere, joked, laughed all the way so that the minibus swayed.

We arrived in Cairo early in the morning. He impressed us all without exception: a strange ride according to some rules known only to them, but there were no accidents on our way, mud all around and mountains of garbage, people running and chewing on the go, military equipment drove the same roads as urban transport , soldiers on military vehicles shouted at each other with other soldiers on other vehicles, gesticulating, neighing, poking their fingers.
Our tourists fell silent and watched what was happening with square eyes.

To the destination, and this is the Egyptian Museum, where the guide met us, we drove around the city for two hours, no less.
Finally, the bus stopped. Around military equipment, soldiers. Some military men shook hands with us at the exit of their bus and asked us not to linger, not to take pictures, but to quickly go to the museum.
We passed. The museum stood still, but there were burnt high-rise buildings around, charred logs, some kind of horror.
The guide told the history of the museum, touched a little on what was in the courtyard and said with great regret: "In the museum you will see many beautiful exhibits, they are all originals. But the bulk, all the most valuable, the most significant for Egypt, the main history of the country and its priceless riches were taken to their countries by Europeans. They took out so much that it’s hard for us to even imagine. But, nothing. Egyptian treasures, mummies, pharaohs and sarcophagi will call their people to them. And people will come to them. And then you have to either put up with it, or bring the people back with the holy things of the Egyptian land."
Similar to this expression, we heard the guide in Luxor say...
I can say that in European museums there are halls of Egyptology, where the values ​​of Ancient Egypt are kept. Many Egyptologists, I read about it, and I am familiar with two Egyptologists from Germany, who regularly take part in excavations, in scientific expeditions to Egypt. So they also said that you can’t drag into your country what does not belong to you, your land. Over time, all this will speak and it will be very bad. These people live in their Germany today, but they do not change their minds.

The building of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo was built in 1900 in the neoclassical style by the French architect Marcel Dunon, who is buried in the courtyard of the museum and there is a monument to him there.
The museum was built on Tahrir Square and opened in 1902.

It all started with the fact that the new government of Egypt in 1835 decided to stop the looting and export of priceless relics.
The previous rulers of the country did not particularly value antiquities and allowed almost everyone to take them out of the country. Under the pretext of scientific research, priceless things were exported, which were sold for thousands and millions of dollars to private collections and museums. The Egyptians did not know the true value of many things, since they were practically not interested in all this and such "good" was found everywhere.
In the middle of the 19th century, scientists sounded the alarm and insistently demanded that the country's cultural heritage be saved, at least what was left. And there are not many left today. And today, black diggers and Bedouins make good money on ancient relics.

The Egyptian government created the Egyptian Antiquities Service.
The first was a collection of ancient Egyptian art. It was housed in the first museum, opened in 1858, in Bulaq, founded by the Egyptologist Auguste Mariet, one of the directors of the Louvre. Here the assembled collection was exhibited for the first time.

As soon as the museum began to replenish with collections and priceless exhibits, a severe flood happened, many exhibits were badly damaged, and some of them were stolen.
The founder of the museum, Mariet, approached the government with a proposal to create a large museum with good security and collect in it all the valuable exhibits of Egypt.

2 years after the appeal, the exhibits were transferred to a wing of the palace of the ruler of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, in Giza. The exhibits were kept there until the opening of the museum in Cairo for 22 years.

During the popular demonstrations on January 28, 2011, looters broke several shop windows and, after an inventory, there were at least 18 artifacts in the list of stolen museum valuables. These are two gilded wooden statues of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, a statue of Nefertiti, a figurine of a scribe, a scarab heart and much more.

Today, photography is strictly prohibited in the museum. All equipment must be handed over to the storage room. But there is something to see in the museum. The spirit captures from ancient values. These are the famous mask of Tutankhamun and treasures from his tomb, 11 royal mummies of the pharaohs, statues of pharaohs, the head of Queen Nefertiti, the statue of Mentuhotep, the statue of Pharaoh Thutmose III, the statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten, and one of the most popular exhibits is the statue of Pharaoh Djoser. This statue was found in Saqqara (the oldest necropolis of Ancient Egypt) in 1924. It is famous for the fact that the Pyramid of Djoser is the first pyramid in the world, besides, it has survived to this day in excellent condition.

There are several sculptures in the courtyard of the museum, the most famous of which is the sculpture of the Sphinx, located in front of the facade of the building. Next to the sphinx is a small pool with bluish flowers of the Nile lotus, they are washed by small fountains.

Due to the situation in the country, there were few people in the museum. It was possible not to rush and carefully examine the exhibits.

The Egyptian Museum has more than a hundred rooms, and about 120,000 exhibits are located on its two floors. The exposition of the museum is arranged in chronological order and covers all historical periods of ancient Egypt.

Everyone here will be interested...

In the very center of Cairo on Tahrir Square is one of the largest repositories of historical artifacts - the Cairo Museum. The museum's collection is located in more than a hundred rooms, which exhibit over a hundred thousand archaeological finds. No museum in the world can boast of such a high concentration of exhibits.

The history of the creation of the museum

The basis of the richest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world was laid by the French scientist Auguste Mariette, the founder and first head of the Cairo Museum. Fascinated by Egyptology under the influence of his friend and relative, the famous Champollion, Mariette went to work at the Louvre Museum, and in 1850 was sent to Egypt to search for ancient manuscripts.

Instead of searching the library archives, the young Egyptologist enthusiastically set about excavating the Memphis necropolis at Saqqara, as well as elsewhere. The scientist sent his findings to the Louvre. He owns the honor of opening the Alley of the Sphinxes and the Serapeum, the necropolis of the sacred Apis bulls.

Returning to France, Mariet continued to work at the Louvre, but already in 1858 the ruler of Egypt, Said Pasha, invited him to head the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Arriving in Egypt, Mariet led an energetic struggle against the plunder of ancient artifacts, not forgetting about archaeological research. Under his leadership, the Great Sphinx was finally cleared of centuries-old sand drifts. In 1859, in the Cairo suburb of Bulak, at the request of the scientist, a special building was built for archaeological finds. This was the beginning of the collection of the Cairo Museum.

In 1878, during the flood, the museum building was partially flooded, many exhibits were damaged. After that, it was decided to build a new large building in a safer place, and the collection was transported for storage to the palace of the ruler of Egypt, Ismail Pasha.

For services to Egyptology, Mariet was elected a member of a number of European academies, and the Egyptian authorities honored him with the title of pasha. Auguste Mariette died in 1881. The ashes of the scientist, according to his will, rest in a sarcophagus in the courtyard of the Cairo Museum.

The current building was built in 1900, and two years later the museum received its first visitors.

Since then, the museum's collection has been continuously replenished. However, there were dark moments in his history. During the Arab Spring in 2011, during a popular demonstration, looters smashed several shop windows and stole at least 18 exhibits. The robbery was stopped by other demonstrators, after which the military took the museum under their protection.

Museum exposition

It will take several years to see all the exhibits of the Cairo Museum. Even specialists from time to time find something completely new for themselves in its storerooms. Therefore, we will focus on the most interesting of the artifacts stored here.

The exhibits of the museum are arranged chronologically and thematically. At the entrance, the visitor is greeted by imposing statues of Amenhotep III and his wife Tia. The image of the queen is not inferior in size to the sculpture of the pharaoh, which contradicts the Egyptian tradition.

The ground floor houses statues of all sizes, dating from the pre-dynastic era to the Roman conquest. There are also fragments of the Great Sphinx - parts of a false beard and uraeus, images of a cobra from the crown of the pharaoh.

Of particular interest are the sculptural images of the pharaohs of the most ancient era - the statue of the builder of the first pyramid of Djoser, the only surviving image of Cheops - an ivory figurine, as well as a magnificent example of ancient Egyptian art - a diorite statue of the pharaoh Khafre. The 10-meter statue of Ramses II from pink granite stands out for its majesty.

The grave goods from the tomb of Queen Hetepheres, the mother of Cheops, belong to the era of the Old Kingdom. Found in 1925, the tomb was untouched. Finds made in it, including the queen's palanquin, her bed, precious boxes and jewelry, give an idea of ​​the luxury that surrounded the pharaoh's family.

An unforgettable impression will be made by visiting the “Mummy Hall”, where the visitor finds himself face to face with the rulers of Egypt, including the legendary Seti I, Ramses II, Thutmose III, Amenhotep II, conquerors and builders who left behind majestic architectural monuments. A special microclimate is maintained in the hall, which contributes to the preservation of mummies.

Of great value are the artifacts of the era of the reign of the pharaoh-reformer Akhenaten, who tried to replace the traditional religion of the Egyptians with the cult of the single solar god Aten. In just a few years, Akhenaten built a new capital, Akhetaten, which was abandoned after the death of the pharaoh, and his name was cursed by the priests. Any memory of him was destroyed, however, many works of art from the era of Akhenaten were preserved in the ruins of Akhetaton.

The pharaoh was a reformer not only in the sphere of religion. The frozen canons of art were violated during his reign, the sculptural and pictorial images of people and animals are distinguished by expressiveness, naturalness, and the absence of idealization. It was a real revolution in art. The famous image of Queen Nefertiti belongs to this period.

Tomb of Tutankhamun

The real gem of the museum is the collection of items from Tutankhamun's tomb, the only royal tomb left untouched. In total, more than 3,500 items were found in the tomb, half of which are exhibited in the halls of the museum.

The tomb contained everything that the pharaoh might need in the afterlife - pieces of furniture, dishes, jewelry, writing materials, even the royal chariot. A masterpiece of furniture art is a gilded throne carved from wood, studded with precious stones. There is also a statue of Tutankhamun depicted standing on the back of a panther, his hunting weapons, even the shirt and sandals in which he was buried.

The museum exhibits four wooden sarcophagi. In them, nested in each other, was the last, golden, containing the mummy of the pharaoh. Small golden sarcophagi intended for the entrails of the deceased are also exhibited here.

The main treasure of the exposition, and, perhaps, of the entire museum, is the gold death mask of the pharaoh, decorated with azure. The mask is perfectly preserved and perfectly conveys the facial features of the ancient ruler. Tutankhamun's mask is a kind of visiting card of the Cairo Museum and one of the symbols of Egypt.

A few hours of travel through time past the showcases of the Cairo Museum will leave indelible memories. Even after a superficial acquaintance with the incredibly rich collection, it becomes clear why the Cairo Museum is often called the main attraction of Egypt.

Egyptian Museum (National Museum) located in the heart of Cairo, on Tahrir Square. It is sometimes called the National Museum, but this is incorrect. The National Museum, that is, the Museum of Egyptian Civilization, whose exposition would reflect all periods of the country's history, still exists only on paper. And almost all the exhibits of the Egyptian Museum date back to the reign of the pharaohs - the dynastic period, and only some of them - to the Greco-Roman.

We are very lucky! The night before, Maya met in the lobby of our hotel with Ola, who had arrived from Sharm for a parcel, with whom we called from time to time all three days upon arrival, but still could not find a time convenient for all of us to meet (we returned late from Alex, something else). At the same time, hearing impeccable Russian in the handset, I somehow affectionately called her "Olechka". Politely and with a smile, my interlocutor said - no, I am Ola. I am an Egyptian. It was only later that we learned that Ola (Mrs. ... full name on the business card) is the best guide of the Cairo Museum, a teacher at the University of Cairo, a true connoisseur of Egyptian culture and history, educated in Leningrad.
In general, the charming Maya went to transfer the package to the hotel reception. As a result of their meeting, dear Ola put aside all her plans for the next day and decided to treat herself (yes, that's what she said!) The opportunity to chat with two such lovely Russian women - and offered (completely free, by the way) to conduct a tour of the Cairo Museum only for both of us!

So in the morning follow us

Ray came anddrove to Tahrir Square,yes we are not in a hurrywent to the museum down the hill .... We agreed to call Ray later, when our program of "spiritual saturation" with the museum was completed

Several sculptures are installed in the courtyard of the museum, the most famous of which is the sculpture of the Sphinx, located almost in front of the facade of the building,

near the sphinx - a small pool with bluish flowers of the Nile lotus, where small fountains beat - it's very beautiful.

In the museum and near it, in addition to tourists of almost all nationalities, there are many cheerful Cairo schoolchildren, whom their teachers brought to get acquainted with the history of their country.

Since we arrived a little earlier than the appointed time of meeting with Ola - we walked a bit around the courtyard of the museum, took a few photos, and then went to take our cameras to the storage room - alas, taking pictures in the museum has been forbidden for several years. Therefore, for those who are especially inquisitive, I offer a couple of good links where you can see the exhibits of the museum:

(The photos of the museum exhibits on the second link are especially good! Sanks at Bluffton University!!!)
We agreed to meet Ola near the large sphinx guarding the entrance to the museum. And here she is! Personally, I was fascinated at first sight - beautiful, boyishly slender with a short haircut on bright brown hair, stylishly dressed in a youthful way - no headscarves covering your head and shapeless clothes - a completely European girl in fashionable trousers and a sweater fitting a slender figure. And a little later, already in the museum, it turned out that Ola in profile is simply strikingly similar to the young king - Tutankhamun!
Hello! She calls us and waves her hand. Hello! The feeling is that we met an old friend - immediately "on you", immediately complete comfort in communication.
A more interesting, filled, emotionally colored excursion than the one that Ola conducted for us, I can’t remember in my whole life in any museum I visited before!

The Egyptian Museum has more than a hundred rooms, more than a hundred thousand exhibits are located on its two floors. The exposition of the museum as a whole is sustained in chronological order. Thanks to Olya, our excursion was dynamic in a good way, we, under her experienced guidance, paid maximum attention to the most key points and did not get tired of the abundance of information.

From what I especially remember:

Monumental statue of the owner of one of the three great pyramids of Giza - Pharaoh Khafre Khafre (Chephren). It is amazing with what skill the sculptor carved this statue from one of the most difficult materials - heavy-duty black basalt! This sculpture is one of the “ka” of the pharaoh, invested with all the signs of supreme power - a false beard, he sits on a throne, the legs of which are made in the form of lion paws, the falcon - the incarnated deity - Horus, carefully embraces the pharaoh's head from behind.

- the original "ka" of Pharaoh Djoser - the same sculpture imprisoned in a serdab near the pyramid of this pharaoh in Saqqara (we already saw a copy and photographed it yesterday during our trip to Saqqara)

- seated prince Rahotep and Nefret, his wife. The sculptures are made of sandstone and painted. The eyes are especially striking - they are made of quartz - with extreme precision - both the iris and pupils are visible. The figures are skillfully painted - the swarthy Rahotep is set off by a lighter and more delicate Nephret, the roundness of her forms is emphasized by tight-fitting white clothes.

- a wooden figurine - the nobleman Kaaper, which was found in Saqqara, in the middle of the 19th century. Seeing her, the workers who took part in the excavations exclaimed: “Yes, this is our headman!” So she entered the catalogs under the name "Village Headman" ("Sheikh al-Balyad")

We carefully peer into the face of one of the most mysterious people of ancient Egypt - this is a female pharaoh - Hatshepsut. Her sculptural image has all the traditional symbols of supreme power, including a beard. There is even an image of her in the form of a sphinx -

The hall with exhibits from the so-called Amarna period, the reign of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, is impressive. In the art of ancient Egypt, this was a period of realism: stunning frescoes with birds, genre scenes are completely devoid of later canons - and charming in their sincerity.

Stone Akhenaten, who looks very unattractive, even ugly, with a small head and a large belly. Neither before nor after the Amarna period would a sculptor dare to depict the omnipotent pharaoh in this way, even if the resemblance to the original was one hundred percent

Alabaster head - beautiful Nefertiti -
Akhenaten's wife

By the way, I was shocked by the suggestion of some scientists that, in fact, some time after imaginary death of Akhenaten(!) Egypt was ruled by his wife - Nefertiti - she also posed for the sculptors in the role of her husband - that is why the figure of the pharaoh has such a feminine figure with large hips - and the resemblance in the faces is clearly visible. Even more daring is the hypothesis that the famous prophet Moses is none other than Akhenaten, who fled to Sinai from ideological persecution for his transformations!

We climb the marble stairs to the second floor of the museum - the core of the collection here is the treasures of the tomb of Tutankhamun, which was found in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, practically not plundered. The collection is really large and staggers the imagination - of course - the famous Golden death mask of Tutankhamun (which we nevertheless captured in a spy way with the cameras of our mobile phones), two of his coffins, a statue of Tutankhamun (here we notice how charming our Ola is similar in face to this pharaoh), a gilded throne, a sculpture of the god Anubis in the form of a lying jackal, gold jewelry and other utensils from the tomb. The collection also includes half-decayed clothes that Tutankhamun was wearing - sandals, a shirt and even underpants .... for some reason, it becomes, to put it mildly, uncomfortable when looking at ordinary, everyday items from this tomb.

On the second floor of the museum there are also Fayum portraits, which were found at the end of the 19th century. during the excavations of the Roman necropolis in the Fayum oasis, they are a wax drawing on a wooden board. They were drawn from life, hung in the house during life, and after death they were placed on top of the mummy. The images of people on them are absolutely realistic.

At one time, I first “met” and was fascinated by the Fayum portraits in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, thanks to the magnificent permanent exhibition of the museum dedicated to ancient Egypt (the collection was compiled by the passionate Egyptologist Prince V.S. Golenishchev). By the way, the question is still passionately discussed whether the removal of artifacts from Egypt was a civilized form of robbery or the only way to save them. Scientists are inclined to the latter: at the moment when the burial places of the pharaohs began to open, they risked being looted and destroyed by ignorant treasure hunters. Although it is known that the first robbers entered the tombs millennia ago, long before modern thieves
In general, the program of cultural saturation took place - it's time for dinner - there was still a slight feeling of hunger, a desire to drink beer, and most importantly, now just chat. Ola invites us to go to a cafe she knows well, which is located nearby.

Art Cafe (cafe Estoril)

This wonderful cafe is located very close to the museum and is one of the places where Cairo bohemia gathers - artists, art critics and people in general who are not alien to beauty. I specially took a business card of this cafe and tell the address for those lucky ones who have plans to visit Cairo: it is located in the alley that goes away from Tallat Harb street in the area of ​​​​house number 12 to Kasr el Nil street, house 13. For the completely dull it is written - in the building of the shopping center located behind the Air France office and cafe phone number: 574 31 02. In general - come in - you will not regret it! Cozy atmosphere, pleasant coolness on a hot day, beautiful paintings on the walls - the work of a familiar artist Ola named Osman, who, of course, also studied his craft in Russia!