Back in Cairo for the final few days of our tour, our goal was to visit two of the most important museums- the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and the Grand Egyptian Museum, to wrap up our trip.

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization is a carefully and excellently curated set of artifacts that cover the entirety of Egyptian history from the early dynasties until present day.  Most importantly the museum hosts the royal mummies that were extracted from the Valley of Kings, a total of 17 kings and three queens.  The special exhibit, which does not allow photography unfortunately, started with the earliest rulers- their mummies and sarcophagus and other objects, describing their place in history and in the line of pharos–passing through time until the late period. As Ramses was a popular name, there were several “Ramses” mummies.  When the museum opened, providing a nice display area for the mummies, a “Pharaohs’ Golden Parade” was held in 2021 to move the mummies to the museum.  A short video highlighted the extravaganza with each mummy having its own chariot (fancy car), a parade of people dressed in period costumes, bands and acknowledgement by the Egyptian president.  For Pharaohs who sought immortality by building elaborate pyramids and tombs, one can only observe that it seemed to have worked, given the pomp and circumstance and attention they receive in modern times!  We spent several hours at the museum, taking our time to absorb the stories and study the artifacts as well as visiting the mummy exhibit.

At the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. A highly recommended stop!

Coffin of a priest. I had not noticed before that they actually painted on the bottom of the feet.

Another example of some of the beautiful colors that remained intact over the millennia.

The new Grand Egyptian museum, opened within the last six months, has been a project in work for decades.  As I mentioned in a previous post the original Egyptian museum, which we visited at the beginning of our trip, was filled to the gills with all kinds of artifacts, many not labeled or curated.  It had long been recognized that a new museum was critical and thanks to generous donations from the Japanese (they provided 75% of the funds) and others, the new museum, which is huge and modern, hosts many artifacts that had been in storage and unavailable for public view.  Most importantly, the museum was also designed to display the contents of King Tutankhamen’s tomb.

The museum facade is very artistic and evokes the pyramids, which sit in the background as the museum is very close to the Giza site.  Eventually a walkway will connect the museum to Giza making the area a hub for tourism.  That part of the project is not finished yet but despite that fact the museum, since its opening has drawn huge crowds, domestic and international, to experience the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization.  We spent the whole day wandering around and it was, just barely, enough time to absorb its amazing contents.

The museum is lofty, with what would be considered the lobby area, open air (although roofed) stairs and a gliding walkway leading up and to the right to the major exhibit area.  The twelve galleries (not including the King Tut area) are organized by period and topic and we strolled through them slowly in chronological order.  Hossam did a great job of pointing out significant displays while leaving us enough time to wander around on our own.  The museum was crowded and tour guides, working in a multitude of languages, were leading small and large groups through the galleries.  Because our visit was at the end of the trip, I felt that I could put context around some of the objects and was still playing “guess that God” throughout the visit.

A schematic of the galleries (not including the Tut exhibit) of the Grand Egyptian Museum.

A view of the Giza pyramids out of the window that leads to the main galleries.

After lunch at one of the restaurants in the food court we headed back up the ramp to the King Tut galleries and spent the afternoon gawking at all of the stuff that was buried with him.  Chariots, jewelry, representations of food, hundreds of little statues representing different servant functions, alabaster jars, tunics…. it was incredible.  The sarcophagi and coffins that King Tut were buried in (like a matryoshka dolll) were on display and the highlight of the exhibit was his solid gold burial mask.  (Remember from a previous post his mummy is still in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.)  Based on the sheer amount of objects and the quality– fine wood, alabaster, gold gilding and rich paints– a lot of wealth was invested in ensuring a luxurious afterlife. Too bad you cannot take it with you….. King Tut would have been set for eternity!

King Tut’s outer coffin (not sarcophagus).

The next coffin in the set -also very elaborate.

The famous solid gold mask found on King Tut’s mummy. It is in a glass case and difficult to get a shot without glare. (Lots of people trying to take pictures at one time!)

Our last night in Cairo we had a very nice, filling (so much food!) farewell dinner with Hossam and headed to the airport in the wee hours of the morning to start our homeward journey.  Truly it was a trip of a lifetime!!!!!

View of the Nile at night from my Cairo hotel room. Awesome view!