Dear Foodie Fam,

Oh, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities...!

Also known as the Egyptian Museum or Museum of Cairo (Al-Matḥaf al-Miṣrī,), this is the largest museum in Egypt. The museum is so chock-full of antiquities you have to pay an extra fee to be able to photograph any of it. Filming is not allowed at all inside the museum.

There's even a lot of historical statues basking in the elements, outside the museum! You can start viewing the art before you buy tickets!

I started off pretty dizzy with the amount of art. Thankfully, I didn't bump into any though they were practically artifacts stacked one on another. I actually got to marvel at things I’d only read about in books or seen in movies… things so old that Ancient Egyptians called them old.

I mean this wooden statue of King Hor is 4,000 years old! It's also a very important statue because it is the "KA" of King Hor- meaning it's a depiction of his one of his souls /spirits. 

You can see the Colossal statues of Amenhotep III and Tiye, pictured above with the Ka statue. Their daughters are at their feet.

But, as a dark person, I loved to see the Egyptian culture's earlier ideas of the afterlife- coins and sarcophagi, scarabs, deities and heavenly protectors. It makes me wonder what my hopes for posterity and the after life are.There were many beautiful and heartbreakingly intact alabaster canonic jars (for mummification) staring back at me.

The Pallette of Narmer, which may be the oldest historical document ever is also in this Museum. There is also the massive Merneptah Stele (Victory Stele of Merneptah/Israel Stele/Israel Stela) (pictured at right, above)! Dating to the rule of  Ramesses the Great's son, Merneptah (19th Dynasty) it's engraved with Merneptah’s military victories and is the oldest known extra-biblical reference to Israel.

More historic stuff? The statue of Khufu, the builder of the great Pyramids of Giza). There's also one of his son, Khafra (believe to have inspired the Great Sphinx) and Khafra’s son, Menkaura (builder of the smallest Pyramid of Giza). Additionally, the bust of the much beloved Akhenaten (Nefertiti) lives here with them.

You can see artifacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb- a favorite for lots of tourists. Though this is the most famous lot ever excavated from a Pharaoh's tomb, it was also the most complete ancient Egyptian royal tomb found. To me, this is especially sad. It means almost the entire lot of things this young pharaoh was buried with are all on display and not all with his body, resting out of sight.

Personally, the most surreal thing to see was the stele art from the Amarna period depicting some of my faves: Akhenaten and Nerfertiti. I've only ever admired these in art history books for their groundbreaking style and content... And there they were... still intact and able to feast my own humble eyes upon. I think after this point, I was on zombie mode. Seeing the steles was that powerful for me.

There’s Egyptian art from the Greek and Roman periods! There’s even miniature models depicting daily life.

So many pieces of jewelry crafted with such high detail... glass eyes... even wigs! It’s literally as if the Valley of the Kings (which I visit later) was emptied into this building!

William, the faience hippopotamus mascot of the  Metropolitan Museum of Art has twin brothers out here!

I actually did need to take breaks every now and then in order to fairly take in so much of the collections. There was so much and it was all so engrossing! This is a must-do pilgrimage for any art nerd. The museum is open from 9AM to 7PM all days and worth the 60-100 L.E for adults and 30-50 L.E for students (the latter pricing is for the mummy room). Additionally, it's 10 L.E extra for photography.

Sources

http://www.akhet.co.uk/cairo.htm

https://theculturetrip.com/africa/egypt/articles/cairos-egyptian-museum-in-10-artefacts/

http://www.ba-bamail.com/content.aspx?emailid=17188

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Museum

https://www.allaboutarchaeology.org/merneptah-stele-faq.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun