The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Cairo, is one of the world's great museums — a treasure house of ancient Egyptian artefacts unmatched anywhere on Earth, holding over 120,000 objects spanning more than 5,000 years of civilisation. Built in 1902 by the French architect Marcel Dourgnon, the pink neoclassical building was once the only place on Earth where the riches of the pharaohs were assembled in one place. Today it shares the spotlight with the new Grand Egyptian Museum near the Pyramids, but the Tahrir Square museum — still the most visited in Africa — retains a matchless atmosphere of accumulated wonder.
The museum's most celebrated collection is the Tutankhamun Gallery on the upper floor, where the treasures from KV62 — the nearly intact royal tomb discovered by Howard Carter in 1922 — are displayed. The golden death mask, the solid-gold inner coffin, the royal throne with its extraordinary inlay work, the ceremonial daggers (one blade made from meteoritic iron), the alabaster canopic chest and hundreds of other objects represent a collection of such quality and completeness that no other single archaeological discovery in history approaches it.
The Tutankhamun Galleries
The upper floor Tutankhamun rooms hold the most significant collection of royal burial goods ever found. The gold death mask — depicting the young king with its striped nemes headdress, inlaid eyes of lapis lazuli and quartz, and serene expression — is unquestionably the most famous object in any museum in the world. Weighing 11kg of solid 22-carat gold, it was placed directly over the mummified face of the 19-year-old king and has not left Egypt since its discovery.
The second golden shrine, the alabaster perfume vases, the ceremonial beds with their animal heads, the model ships for the afterlife journey, the gilded statues of protective goddesses and the jewellery of extraordinary intricacy occupy multiple connecting rooms that can absorb hours of careful viewing.
The Royal Mummy Room
The Royal Mummy Room contains 27 royal mummies in a climate-controlled gallery — including Ramesses II (who died around 1213 BCE at an estimated age of 90 and is still remarkably well preserved, his thin face unmistakably regal), Seti I (whose serene features have moved many visitors to tears), and the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut (identified in 2007 by matching a tooth to a canopic jar found in her tomb). The room requires a separate admission ticket and the experience — standing a metre from faces that last saw Egyptian sunlight 3,000 years ago — is genuinely affecting.
The Grand Egyptian Museum
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), a massive new facility opened in stages from 2022–2024 adjacent to the Giza Plateau, has taken over many of the Tutankhamun treasures and presents them in a dramatically different, purpose-built environment. The GEM's centrepiece is an 11-metre granite statue of Ramesses II at the entrance, while the Tutankhamun galleries have been redesigned around the full 5,000-piece collection — more than triple what was displayed in Tahrir Square. The old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square remains open with its own focus collection; many visitors now choose to visit both.
