Cairo Museum of Antiquities, the Treasures of Ancient Egypt

Cairo, a gigantic city of 22 million inhabitants, has been the capital of Egypt for many centuries. It is located on the banks of the Nile, the main artery of the country, for transport as well as trade and agriculture, which for a long time was only possible thanks to the water of its floods. Combining modernity and tradition, Cairo is an essential stop for those who want to learn about the ancient civilizations that developed in Egypt during the beginning of the fourth millennia BC, in the period of Roman occupation. At the time, Cairo did not exist. The major sites were named Giza, the nearby Saqqara, and then Thebes, the great capital of the south, and Tanis, in the north. These were the sites, along with many others, that archaeologists focused their research on starting in the beginning of the 19th century. Initially undertaken by the French, their excavations became more international at the beginning of the 20th century, and teams from all over the world continue to dig in the country under the supervision of the Egyptian authorities. The objects brought to light are exhibited in the Great Museums of Europe, near the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The museum dominates the famous Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo, the veritable political, religious, and cultural center of the city. The entire square was cleared in 2011, and an underground parking lot was built, which freed the surface from the cars that had invaded it. It also contains the Mugama, a huge building housing several ministries, and the Omar Makran Mosque. The Egyptian Museum has existed since the early 1860s, but was originally located in another neighborhood. Soon, the collection grew too large, and a new building was built and inaugurated in 1902. Some statues, or copies to be precise, were placed outside to attract the eye, and give an idea of what is inside. Steles, sphinxes, and royal statues earned large numbers throughout Egypt. The architect of the museum, Marcel D'Ognon, was French, and was assisted by an English engineer. Marked by their classical training, they had a very Art Nouveau Egyptian-style decor created. The entrance of the museum leads to its large central galleries, flanked on the sides by smaller rooms. It really feels like you're entering a cave of treasures. Across two floors, the Egyptian Museum brings together hundreds of thousands of works and objects, including statues, coffins, sarcophagi, burial furniture, paintings, only a small portion of which are actually displayed. All these works came from excavations that have been carried out throughout Egypt since Egyptology began in the 1820s. The archaeologist François Mariette, the scholar Champollion, and many other contributed to the growth of our knowledge and the excavation of all these works from beneath the sands of Egypt. The largest and heaviest pieces are on the ground floor, and the smaller and most precious objects, along the entire treasure of Tutankhamun, are displayed on the upper floor. Overwhelmed by the artworks and visitors, this museum has gained a successor. Or rather, a twin. As the Ministry of Egyptian Antiquities has had a new, very modern museum built at the foot of the pyramid. The Great Egyptian Museum opened in 2021. Directly facing the entrance, there is the central atrium, whose height covers the two floors. It contains some of the most major pieces, both in terms of history and size. For example, this colossal structural group of Meneteb III and his wife, Queen Tiyeh. Made of limestone, it measures seven meters high and portrays the great emperor from the 18th dynasty, who reigned for nearly 40 years in the first half of the 14th century BC. As per Egyptian tradition, his wife Tiyeh sits next to him, and three of their daughters are The monumental aspect of the statues is not overwhelming, however, and they actually give off a deep sense of harmony. Much older, by at least 400 years, are the two granite statues of a king who is otherwise not very well known. As is often the case, these sculptures were as they put it, by other more recent pharaohs. In this case, this first happened in the 17th century BC, and then again by Ramesses II, who had them moved and had his name inscribed on them in the 13th century BC. Nevertheless, the pair were preserved, which is quite rare. The Egyptians made their statues from all kinds of stone, including limestone, granite, and very hard basalt stones. However, they only had tools made of stone or bone to carve with them. In addition to royal statues, the central atrium houses many stone sarcophagi. That of Menepta, son of Ramesses II, shows the pharaoh protected by Isis, the funeral goddess, the wife and sister of Osiris, who stretches her hands over his head. On the opposite side, the goddess Nut, whose starry robe recalls her role as goddess of the pyramid, extends her arms to protect the wooden sarcophagus, which was placed inside. These small blocks of black granite, which nevertheless weigh several tons, are called pyramidions. They were placed at the top of the royal pyramids during the Old and Middle Kingdom. They feature the names of the pharaohs buried there, and prayers to facilitate his passage to afterlife. These pyramids were later used for the tops of obelisks. The permanence of Egyptian art is fascinating. This sarcophagus, known as an Anthropos sarcophagus, in the shape of a human body, was made during the Sete period, around the 7th-6th century BC. This form had been in use for at least 1,000 years. In the side corridor of this atrium, there are many statues on display, such as this cube-shaped statue, certainly portraying a high-ranking official and worshipper of the goddess Hathor, recognisable by her cow horns. The large hall preceding the central atrium is a distribution point for the different main branches of the museum. Its pillars are decorated with colossal statues, and the entrance to a side gallery presents one of the most famous objects of the museum because of its age. In fact, this statue is nearly 4,700 years old. It portrays the pharaoh Djoser, one of the earliest identified kings of Egypt, and was found in the temple near his pyramid at Saqqara, one of the great burial sites to the south of Cairo. The statue was painted, and its eyes were inlaid with semi-precious stones. In another corner, there is a double homage to Jean-François Champollion. A copy of the Rosetta Stone, kept in the British Museum, is placed next to a bust of the scholar. It was through the comparison of the three types of texts written on the stelae that he was able to understand the hieroglyphic system and decipher the first symbols in the early 1820s. He thus opened the way for a much better understanding of Egyptian civilization. Most of the known Egyptian works were discovered in tombs, so you should always think of them in a sacred context, like this so-called reserved head. It was meant to help the spirit of the dead man to recognize his body when he returned from the other world. The same goes for this statue of a scribe, discovered at Saqqara, in the Old Kingdom Necropolis, which dates back to the third millennium BC. With his attention fixed on what his master dictates, his hand ready to write, this civil servant has been performing his duties for more than 4,500 years. There are also statues evoking the Ka, a kind of double of the human soul that gives life to the body and has its own priest. This was the function of the Ka Emked in Saqqara, around 2,500 BC. The presence of Egyptian works is often difficult to organize. They are very numerous and come in all shapes and sizes, which makes a chronological or thematic organization complicated. So you can go from royal or religious statues that are several meters high to small objects and display cases, not to mention the sizable stone sarcophagi. Altogether it can sometimes give a confused impression, but visitors are quickly taken with All of Egyptian life revolved around the pharaoh, who was at once owner of the land, the king, and the intermediary between his subjects and the gods, with whom he maintained a privileged relationship thanks to his worship of them. This is why, from the beginning of the historical period, you can depicting the king, in this case Menkaur, the grandson of Kafra, and builder of the Great Pyramid, surrounded by two deities, Hathor, and the patron god of an Egyptian region. The size of each one corresponds to its importance. It is thought that there were originally eight reliefs that framed the pillars of the pharaoh's funerary temple at Giza. During the Old Kingdom, the important figures of Egypt had mastabas built, cube-shaped tombs in which the burial chambers were decorated with paintings. These depicted lists of things that the dead might need, like bread, beer, clothes, in case the living failed to bring them. A little later, during the Middle Kingdom, at the very beginning of the second millennium BC, pharaohs like Sesostris I began to develop the site of Qanaq in southern Egypt, which was where this colossal statue came from. Another gallery displays many stone sarcophagi. Most of them are carved from very hard stone, like granite or basalt. These sarcophagi were used as containers for the wooden coffins that held the mummies of the deceased. They often bear registers with inscriptions and carved patterns. They are watched over by a statue of the Good Ta, the creator god whose thought created the world. During the era of Ramesses, the cult of this god was very popular in Thebes and in Memphis, where this statue came from. The sarcophagus of the dwarf Jidor stands out from the others. He is shown in a life-size portrayal with his proper physical characteristics and the nudity of the portrayal is very unusual. It was probably meant to indicate his role, which the inscriptions also tell us about. He was a dancer during the burial of Apis, the sacred oxen. A collection of mummy-form sarcophagi help visitors understand the importance of these funerary rites for the Egyptians. Fearing that their mummies would not withstand the test of time, they'd also make their sarcophagi in this shape so it could take the place of their mortal remains. The faces and the inscribed names distinguish each of these coffins. The inscriptions carved on these sarcophagi never fail to include the name of the deceased and their trade. In this case, Teos was both a priest and an officer in the army. They also feature the ritual phrases and prayers that were indispensable for the survival of the afterlife. Engraving and sculpture work is always of a very high quality. Egyptian craftsmen particularly like to play on the contrast between the smooth shiny parts and the rougher matte engraved areas. It really creates the impression that there are two different colours. In some tombs there are embalming tables next to the sarcophagi which were used during the mummification. This was done for certain people. For example, this was one of the wives of the god Amun. Each period of Egyptian civilization had a certain preferred shape for a sarcophagi. For example, during the Sate period in the 7th-6th century BC, this type of sarcophagus was massive rounded forms was particularly popular. This statue of Sosostris I is the was one of the first colossal statues of Egyptian art. It began a tradition which would know a great success in Egypt. 1,600 years later, this young king, a descendant of Alexander the Great, still used multiple elements from the Egyptian traditions. The static pose, the loincloth, and the headdress. But he mixed in Greek influences that were a reminder of his family's origins. During this period, many elements previously reserved for the pharaohs spread to the upper classes of society. For example, Horemheb, an important commercial agent in Nacrotis, wore a royal loincloth normally reserved for kings and gods. Much older, this colossal statue of Sosostris III was found in several pieces in Canak, the city his dynasty came from. Very imposing, the statue shows him wearing the double crown of upper and lower Egypt, indicating that the two great regions were unified under his role. These statues are not real portraits, but each king is identifiable by specific physical signs. Sosostris III was always depicted with big ears, a sign that he listened to his subjects. This pharaoh had his funeral complex built in Dashur, to the south of Cairo, although in the end he did not occupy it. Just next to it, a large pit was found containing several perfectly preserved, 10-meter-long funeral boats. They were made of long wooden planks, fitted together with mortise and tenon joints. They may have been built to transport the body of the sovereign to his final resting place. During the new empire, they made more and more of these colossal statues, along with another form of royal representation. Here is a standard bearer of Ramesses III that was placed before the entrance to the temple of Amun-Re at Canak, which was used as a representation of the king in some ritual ceremonies. Now, let's turn back time to the very beginning of pharaonic Egypt. The Nama palette is a very famous object, because this was the first time that the king's name, Nama, appeared in a cartouche. Nama united Upper and Lower Egypt, as is evoked by the decoration of this ceremonial palette that commemorates the major event. All the symbols and characters of Egyptian art were already in place. This was around 2950 BC, at the beginning of Egypt's Old Kingdom. One of the best-known kings of the Old Kingdom is Khafre, the builder of the second pyramids of Giza. During excavations in the vicinity of the pyramid, this statue made of diorite, a very hard stone, was found in a wall near an alleyway of the funerary temple. It shows the pharaoh sitting with his hands on his thighs. He is wearing a pleated loincloth and a nemes, a headdress reserved for kings, as well as a fake beard. Behind him, a falcon protects him with its wings. The statue's peaceful majesty and the perfection of its detail make it one of the major works of Egyptian art. This wooden statue is 4,500 years old. Egypt's climate makes it possible for the fragile objects to be exceptionally well-preserved. This statue is proof. The intendant Khafre must be pleased. His memory has been preserved for centuries, ensuring him an infinite afterlife. The arms were sculpted separately and then attached to the body. As for the eyes, they were inlaid with stones and copper, the only known metal at the time. Another star of the Old Kingdom, the scribe. Proud of their functions, they had themselves dictated sitting cross-legged, papyrus on their knees, concentrated on listening to what they had to write. Numerous statues of this type were found throughout the Old Kingdom, indicating the existence of a large administration serving the pharaoh. Many other statues of all sizes and materials were discovered in mastabas, tombs of the courtiers, which were built around the pyramids. They bring to life an entire population that was policed, organized, married, or concentrated on their tasks, but also stylish and sensitive to fashion. These figures, seated, standing, or in a walking pose, were often painted. In fact, one of the most ancient customs of Egyptian art was to give men a red ochre skin, while women's skin was white. The largest statues portrayed important figures in the Egyptian administrative hierarchy, such as this tepenkonk, master of the secrets of the toilet house, probably a close relative of the king. Let's take another short trip through time and spend a few moments in the Middle Kingdom in the next room. In this era, there were many more wooden coffins, often with painted inscriptions and designs. And moreover, during this era, the tombs often contained these small wooden figurines, a 3D portrayal of the scenes that were painted or carved on the walls of the tombs in the Old Kingdom. For example, these Nubian archers and Egyptian pikemen, marching in rhythm, are found in the tomb of a man named Meshti, who must certainly have had a role in the army. There are also models of boats and ships, with sailors and passengers seated in the shade beneath a small building. It was also in the Middle Kingdom that the first so-called mummiform coffins appeared, which generally adopted the shapes of a body they contained. Let's return to the Old Kingdom, to admire one of the most exceptional works that Egypt has given us. The statues of the couple Raotep, a high priest, general and son of the king, and Nofret, or the beauty, as her name means. You would think that they were made yesterday, they are so perfectly preserved. They help us begin to understand the way painting was an indispensable complement to sculpture. The geese of Miodun are known around the world because of their realistic portrayal. However, they come from the tomb of Wanakafra's nephews, and were painted 4,500 years ago. The painting is a fragment of a larger scene of bird hunting. The birds are depicted with a great feeling of observation. Just next to him stands royal counsellor Nekheftka, in an attitude as dignified as that of the pharaohs, with his son at his side. Although the sculpting of the body is still massive, the face has a great purity, and the short wig is minutely detailed, strand by strand. There are also many family groups that express the strength of the bond between spouses and children. For example, Weha and Izu are shown at the same height, with their two small children next to their legs. Usually, it shows the wife making a tender gesture towards her husband, placing her hand on his shoulder always, marking their affection for eternity. Very few other ancient civilizations show this kind of family tie. Shown in the cross-legged seated position of a scribe, Mitri was a very important figure, which you can tell from the 11 wooden statues found in his mastaba in Saqqara. He must have spent a considerable sum of money to have them made, as wood was a very rare material in Egypt. Like the others, this statue was covered with plaster and paint for the detail. The Middle Kingdom, from around 2000 to 1780 BC, continued this statuary tradition. High officials and courtiers followed the royal example and had statues made to foster the hope of a life in the hereafter. The style became very elegant. Queen Nofret, wife of Sesostris II, had a very sophisticated wig, with large locks of hair wrapped around her face. This hairpiece also had a symbolic role, because it evoked the goddess Hathor, great protector of royalty in Egypt. Two identical statues were found in Tanis, a city in northeastern Egypt, but they must have been bought at the end of the New Kingdom, more than a millennium after their creation. Among the rulers from the Middle Kingdom, King Amenemhet III was particularly prolific in his artistic creations. There are many statues in his name, some of them very original. Like this group, that shows the ruler in double, bringing offerings to the god of the Nile and redistributing the riches, fish, ears of wheat and papyrus. His features are marked, and he wears a distinctive wig and beard. He is also shown dressed as a priest, another major function of the pharaoh. He wears a panther skin, with a head and legs over his shoulders, and a very special neckline, the menat, reserved for priests. Very inventive, Amenemhet III also has statues made of sphinxes, where his face is framed by a lion's mane, and not the nemes that you usually see. This amplified the portrayal of the sovereign's power. Many later rulers were impressed by the magnificence of these statues, and they usurped them, including Nehesi, Ramesses II and his son Manepta, Amsusen, whose names are inscribed on the base. For the more classical style, this head belonged to a colossal statue with inlaid eyes. It was also usurped by a distant successor to Amenemhet III. You can see the characteristic elegance of the Middle Kingdom's art in these seated statues of pharaoh Sesostris I, an ancestor of Amenemhet III. This art, from the end of the 20th century BC, blends classicism with a gentleness that creates a real feeling of harmony. Seated, he wears the nemes, an ornamental beard, and his hands rest on his thighs. It all contributes to a feeling of unalterable eternity. During this period, the practice of the cube statue developed, with only the head and part of the limbs emerging from a block. This was easier to sculpt, and therefore cheaper, and had the advantage of providing large surfaces where you could write long texts. Some used this technique to present an altar before their bodies, guaranteeing their eternal prayer. Pharaoh Hor Awebri is known only through this extraordinary life-size wooden statue, perfectly preserved. It represents his Ka, his life force, indicated by the two bent arms above his head. After a period of instability, the New Kingdom began, which coincided with the peak of Egyptian civilization. Two great dynasties saw successions of kings and queens, with conquering reigns orchestrating an intense period of construction. One of them was Queen Hatshepsut, who had herself depicted as a king, with an ornamental beard, and built a magnificent temple at Dari al-Bahari, opposite Luxor. In the temple next to it, built by her son-in-law and successor, Thutmose III, there was this chapel, dedicated to Hathor, with this cow-shaped statue protecting the pharaoh, standing in the center. On the walls, paintings show the pharaoh making offerings to the deities. Some rooms of the museum are absolutely overcrowded, with a wide variety of statues, evidence of the immense level of Egyptian artistic production. Amenhotep, the son of Hathor, had this sculpture made when he was 80 years old, which you can confirm from the aged features of his face. The inscription adds that he hoped to live to 110 years. Not far away, a rare statue of Hatshepsut, dressed as a male pharaoh. Thutmose III, once on the throne, had all the statues of this woman he considered a usurper broken apart and thrown into a hole, where they were later found. But only a few of them could be reconstructed in their entirety. In this period, sculptures began to have more nuance and roundness in the facial features, and more variation in the torsos. Some of the most famous works in the museum are the painted reliefs from the temple of Hatshepsut at Darya al-Bahari. A procession of servants carrying goods followed two strange and important figures, the king and queen of the land of Punt. This was a country located on the African coast, the north of Somalia, with whom the Egyptians maintained numerous, more or less, peaceful relations. The queen suffered from a disease called elephantiasis, which gave her this very particular silhouette. A distant descendant of Queen Hatshepsut, the young king Tutankhamun lent his features to the god Khonsu, son of Amun, the great god of Karnak. Depicted as a child, with a lock of hair to the side, he is clothed in a shroud and holds the royal insignia, sceptre and flail. The details of his facial features give off a real sensuality. Khonsu formed a triad with Amun and Mut, of whom two colossal but very damaged statues were found at Karnak, the main place of worship of the god Amun. Amun can be recognised by his headdress, consisting of a flat crown topped with two vertical feathers, which are now missing. As for his wife Mut, she wears a royal crown and appears peaceful. Watch out, because she could also turn into an aggressive lioness. Our end of the museum is the Hall of Amarna. It represents the reign of Akhenaten, previously known as Amenhotep IV, who decided to leave Thebes and move to the new capital of Tel el-Amarna. He wanted to escape the strong influence of the priests of Amun at Karnak and favoured the worship of another sun god, Aten, whose name he took. The art of this reign is quite unique. It can be clearly seen from this colossus, which is neither clearly man or woman, either Akhenaten or his wife Nefertiti, either Aten, a father and mother of all things, or Tefnut, the goddess of water. Though the pose and the royal attributes are still the same in this depiction, the style is profoundly different, consisting of elongated features, a wide sensual mouth, a drooping belly and wide hips. It's not clear why the pharaoh chose to be represented in this way. What is certain is that the entire royal family, starting with his wife Nefertiti and their many children, were depicted in the same style. Countless statues and reliefs show the royal family in a variety of activities, often familial or religious, such as Nefertiti praying to the sun whose rays are literally flooding her with light. This is called a sunken relief because the sculptors carved a deep crease around the silhouette of the queen and her retinue, creating a deep contrast of light and shadow. The family of Akhenaten promoted itself in this way and spread its image throughout the country, hoping to make the population adhere to the new cult. From the beginning of his reign, while still at Kanak, the king had tried to create a space for Aten, building a temple to him and placing a series of colossal statues in front of it, showing him wearing the nemes and the ornamental beard and bearing the scepter and the flail, already showing a strong lengthening of the head. After his death, the priests of Amen regained their power and advantage and had the temple and the statues destroyed. All these religious twists and turns did not prevent the Egyptians from continuing to believe in the world of the dead and scrupulously applying the funerary rites. The sarcophagi, which were often uninformed during this era, can confirm this. They bear numerous inscriptions and depictions to aid in the passage of the world of the dead and to protect the deceased from being forgotten. The crisis of the Maamana period was resolved shortly after the death of Akhenaten. His son, Tutankhaten, was brought back to Thebes, where he took on the name Tutankhamun. He died very young and was replaced by one of his advisors. To display his power, he had himself depicted with his arms around the gods Isis, Horus and Osiris, as if he were their equal. The style was once again very classical, relegating the art of Amarna to oblivion. The most famous pharaoh is probably Ramesses II, who reigned in the 13th century BC. The number of statues in his likeness is still very impressive today. They all show him as blessed by gods, including this statue group, where the king, still a child, is protected by the falcon-shaped god Horus. The falcon's head was damaged and restored in antiquity. The art of this period has a great classicism, as shown by this head of Ramesses II with its meticulously curled wig. An essential complement to a visit of the great sites of Egypt, the Cairo Museum of Archaeology presents an abundant collection, with statues, sarcophagi, jewels, mummies and books of the dead. They were discovered during the countless excavation campaigns, carried out all over the country by international and Egyptian teams, who for a long time have preferred to keep these works in a safe place, to avoid any degradation or theft. These objects are a testament to the extraordinary richness of Egyptian civilization, its intense beliefs and the immense skill of its artists and craftsmen. Across the millennia, they continue to carry a tremendous fascination.