Impressions of the Egyptian Museum

Upon arrival in Cairo, I opted to start easy and visit the Egyptian Museum and see a bit a bit of Cairo. With map in hand, I found Tahrir Square and the Egyptian Museum without much issue. The Egyptian Museum, indeed the whole of Tahrir Square lack imposing façades—nothing to live up to their fame.

But I bought my ticket and tried to enter the museum. At the entrance, however, I was turned back. I had a camera in my bag. Before entering, I had to stow it with at a special office for cameras. Pictures are permitted at the Louvre, the British Museum, the Pergamum Museum, but not even a camera was allowed at the Egyptian Museum.

The museum itself hosts an impressive collection of Egyptian antiquities. Sadly, however, it lacks a narrative—very little context is provided in which to evaluate the pieces. (Perhaps to force visitors to hire guides, but, in general, it looks like nothing has been updated or touched for at least fifty years—as if it was a product of some previous age.)

The most impressive exhibit at the museum was the tomb collection of Tutankhamun: the variety and richness of the articles caught my attention—from childhood toys to religious symbols,  and signs of authority, the tomb collection lived up to its hype.

The other artifacts were also good, particularly the model collection of scenes from Egyptian life, but nothing to make the museum stand out favorably when compared to either the British Museum or the Louvre. In fact other than the King Tut exhibit, I felt like I’d seen the same artifacts defused throughout Europe with one considerable difference—the European displays were more contextualized and contained more information.

After winding down my visit, I went to pick up my camera. On the way, I made a detour to try to get change for a tip. Movenpick has a couple concessionaires on the grounds selling regular cans of soda for 20 EL or nearly $3.00. I tried to split a 10 EL bill, but failing that, I ended up heavily over tipping the guys at the camera office. Such is life, I guess.

All in all, the Egyptian Museum ranks well down on my list of the world’s best museums (but is on the list) which is roughly as follows*:

1: Pergamum Museum, Berlin, Germany

2: Volk Museum, Oslo, Norway

3: Museum of Welsh Life, St. Fagans, Wales

4: Louvre Museum, Paris, France

5: The Terror Museum, Budapest, Hungary

6: British Museum, London, England

7: Turkish Archeological Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

8: Vatican Museum, Vatican City, the Vatican

9: Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt

10: Viking Boat Museum, Oslo, Norway

11: Capitoline Museum, Rome, Italy

Note: other than the first three, my ranking fluctuates for the rest; additionally, I expect that if I was pressed, I’d be forced to add additional museums to this list.

*For the purpose of comparing museums, I’m omitting the Hague Sophia and other palaces/churches/castles where the historical structure is the main attraction to the museum. It could be argued that the Vatican Museum also falls into this category, but as I wasn’t a fan of the Sistine Chapel, I’m listing it as an ordinary museum.