The Egyptian Museum: No Pictures Allowed!

I have spent the past couple of days in Cairo exploring many of the museums that can be found here in the city.  Yesterday, I went to The Egyptian Museum and I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was just like something out of a movie.  There were rows of wooden and glass cases filled with ancient artefacts, all of them labelled with little handwritten cards that have yellowed over the years.  There are no big flashy exhibits, nothing interactive to play with, the museum acts simply as a storage facility for all these amazing items, all 120 000 of them. 

The crowd of people getting ready to enter the museum.

Some of the most famous pieces in the museum are King Tut's death mask.  If you look at the header of my blog you will see a cartoon drawing of it.  Seeing it in real life after having read about it, taught about it and even having seen a hologram of it in London, was pretty neat.  The room the mask was in was jam packed full of people, so you don't get any alone time with King Tut.  You simply catch a glimpse of his mask, and then you move on.

A picture of King Tut's death mask taken from Sacred-Destinations.com

Another brilliant part of the museum are the special mummy rooms.  They have rows of mummies on display and you get to see how the mummification process changed over time.  They started painting people's skin yellow, putting rocks under their eyelids to keep the eye sockets full, and even made special rings for their hands and feet so their fingers and toes wouldn't fall off over time.  It was fascinating staring at all the different mummies. To see a picture of the mummy of Ramses II click here (warning, it is pretty spooky looking!)

I am sad that I have no pictures of my own to show you from my trip to the museum, but there are very strict rules about pictures.  You aren't even allowed to bring your camera into the museum with you and have to check-it at the door.  The reason for this rule is that the items in the museum are so special and the light from a camera flash can damage them, so it is a good rule to follow.  So I guess not having any pictures is fine, just means that one day you will have to come to Cairo and see all these sights for youself!