The Egyptian Museum

Before the trip, everyone I know who has been to Egypt put in a plug for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.  "You gotta go," they said.

And, you know what, they are right.  

The only bummer is that they are nearly finished building the brand spanking new Egyptian Museum in Giza, right near the pyramids, but they missed the goal of being open by now.

It is the oldest archaeological museum in the Middle East, and contains the largest collection of Pharaonic materials in the world.  Formally called the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, it puts the "Antiquities" in "Antiquities."

Editor: Uh, Glen, uh. . .Writer: What?  Editor: Oh, forget it.

Built it 1901 by an Italian construction company using a French architect's design (I know what you are thinking, because I'm thinking it too -- Italian AND French?  How is it still standing?), the museum has 120,000 items, with a chunk in storerooms.  I'm not sure how much will be moved to the new museum, although they claim it will still open this year (not that I'm cynical, but on this, I'm cynical).

The front of the museum.  And us.

The new museum is supposed to be fabulous.  The old/current museum is fabulous already, so I can only imagine how fantastic the new one will be.  It will be one of the best museums in the world.  But enough about the new museum, we went to the old museum.

Sam gave us a great tour of the highlights of the museum, and suggested we go to the King Tut exhibition during our free time after the tour.  We did that, and while the line was still long, it moved so we did get to see the museum.  

Editor: Wait, Glen, are you saying you "stood in line, to see the 'boy king' (King Tut)"?

Writer: Yeah, I did.  What's amazing is that "when he was a young man, he never thought he'd see (King Tut)" people stand in line.

Editor: Okay, you get to keep your Bloggers Union card!

After the King Tut exhibition, Carol, Neil, and Mary wanted to hit the museum shop and then get fresh air, while I wanted to wander some more.  So I did, and it was fantastic.

Sam's tour wound us all around the museum, hitting many highlights of the place.  One amusing aspect is that in one of the exhibit rooms, on the wall opposite the entry door, was a very small, essentially unreadable sign saying "No Photos."  (The logical thing to do would be to post the signs on either side of the entry way, along with a floor sign sticking up as you enter, but what do I know?)

But instead the museum opted for the "Kevin Bacon at the end of 'Animal House'" approach and have the guard charge at people screaming "No Photos" continually at anyone who even thought of taking a picture.  I don't know man, there has to be an easier way than hiding your message and hiring a crazed man to berate people for a policy that no one could see.  But apparently, at this wonderful museum, there isn't an easier way.

Another exhibit room was poorly marked with one distant "No Photos" sign, but at least the guard stood by the door and let folks know the policy, without resorting to screaming histrionics.  

I won't go into detail on each exhibit, as I have be posted a ton of photos from the museum, so I will let that post visually tell the story.