The Egyptian Museum of Cairo

[Deleted]

If you have never been to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, chances are that you have the same idea of it that I did -- a big dusty place full of slightly boring antiquities. You figure that you will be impressed by some of the items but that most of it will be overkill, especially since it will all be "Egyptian" and you won't be seeing paintings of the grand masters of Europe, Greek sculpture or some of the other variety that you can hope to see at the British Museum, the Louvre or the Prado.

It was therefore in total ignorance that I discovered what a fantastic place it is. There is a small garden outside and then the large entrance.





I was very lucky to be able to go there when there were no Egyptian school groups and very few tourists. After all, when my company needs to send people as cheaply as possible for a long seminar, they choose the cheapest time of year -- I was in Cairo in the middle of August.

The first rooms of the museum are as you would expect, with large impressive statues.





I will readily admit that there are probably more old dusty cases of sarcophagi than most people would ever need to see.



When I was there, the actual mummies had only recently been removed from display, in line with more modern values concerning the respect of human remains.

Naturally, there were also some great displays of hieroglyphs, and I was hugely impressed by the detail and size of them. Carving these things into stone took a huge amount of work. Just imagine what happened if you made even one mistake.







I should mention that I did suffer one annoyance while going through the museum. Since there were not many visitors, the guards kept accosting me when they saw me with my camera. It is totally authorized to take photos in the museum, but flash photos are competely forbidden.

The guards kept telling me that I could take flash photos if I wanted, in exchange for a modest bakchich. I kept telling them that I did not need to take flash pictures. I thought the soft lighting was excellent and I was using good film at the time. And I was very pleased with the results.

Naturally, I spent some time with King Tutankamon. I still get shivers thinking of how incredible all of that goldwork was.







But what I really preferred at the museum was something about Egyptian art that I did not know -- all of the miniature sculpture, wood carving and little clay figures. I fell in love with these objects forever.





This was a child's toy from 3000 years ago. Apparently the figures danced when you pulled the strings.



This bust still haunts me. I immediately recognized Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now.



Finishing off, there were also a number of nice solid gold statuettes.





It is such an incredibly amazing museum!

[bixaorellana]

What a wonderful building and interior -- and that parklike space out front ..... wow!

I love museums and they're almost always better than you think they'll be, if only because of eccentricity or naive funkiness. But it's triumphs such as you show here that keep me visiting museums. The provide amazement, entertainment, and knowledge in a comfortable setting.

I saw the first Tut tour when it came to New Orleans @1977. Like you, I was completely surprised and enamored of all the naturalistic statuary -- who knew!

What is that apparently empty thing that looks somewhat like a cold frame in the first picture -- the object immediately in front of Mr. & Mrs. Pharoah?

[onlymark]

Kerouac - once upon a time you wanted a picture of a building called the Mogamma in Cairo. Unbeknownst to yourself, or maybe not, in your first picture you have captured the top half of it in the distance to the left.

For anyone's info - the first building you come to out of the gate on the right in that photo, the one in the mid ground about 4 storeys high, is the Nile Hilton.
Actually it was the Nile Hilton, it has now changed hands and is currently being done up. It is/was/will be again, a very handy place to stay in the centre of town and had a very nice rooftop terrace cafe with a view over the Nile.

The picture (I say it's the third) with the cold frame is actually a replica of the type of device used in ancient Egypt, as it has been used for centuries in Europe, to do as a cold frame does. It nurtures young plants and protects them from the worst of the weather until they are established. You do get frosts and high winds here.
They were really only used in the Pharaohs garden and that is why one is displayed as it wasn't a common or garden item as the supply of glass was very expensive and hard to come by.

On the other hand it could just be an empty display case.

[Deleted]

Yes, I had looked up the Mogamma on Google when you mentioned it and of course I recognized the building immediately. It's rather hard to miss when you are downtown.

[cheerypeabrain]

I am absolutely TOTALLY jealous....from the age of nine I wanted to be an Egyptologist....and have a large collection of books. I love the art and the mythology...absolutely wonderful. It may seem strange that I've still not visited Egypt...in fact I am ashamed to say that I daren't...

I've been reading about the subject for such a long time, and have drooled over the photographs in my books...but somehow it was such a big deal that I'm terrified of the impact it will all have on me emotionally when I actually go. Recently some of the treasures of Tutankhamun were on display in the O2 Dome in London...I was a wreck! ;D I wandered around in a daze, stunned at the astonishing beauty of the artifacts that I 'knew' from my books...

I know this all sounds pathetic... ;D I didn't study Egyptology at University, my headmaster didn't think I was bright enough, that allowing me to sit the entrance examination would reflect badly on the school (so I was encouraged into the 'caring profession' of nursing I lasted 10 months and left!). Can't blame the guy...he was just thinking of the other students.

Seeing these images has made me rethink....maybe I will look into a nice long trip in the near future....

sorry to drone on...amazing pics...splendid.

[Deleted]

Well, Egypt has been waiting for 5000 years. It can wait for you for another few months.

[cheerypeabrain]

Exactly ;D

[Deleted]

If you find Egypt frightening (and I understand that, because it can be annoying to independent travellers), go ahead and take a package tour. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it will give you an indication of whether you would be capable of returning on your own.

[cheerypeabrain]

My husband is talking about a Nile Cruise....don't know if that would allow much time for me to indulge...

[Deleted]

Nile cruises are super cheap in the summer, if you can stand the heat. In December, you can multiply the price x 4.

[myrt]

I immediately thought of Cheery when I started reading this post - and there she was - drooling! ;D What a fabulous place it looks indeedy - I shall never be able to go so I shall encourage Cheery as much as possible

That face you mentioned as your favourite K2, is mesmerising isn't it? It could be any man, any where, any time.....astonishing...so powerful..

[onlymark]

cheery, I didn't realise this thread was back as you posted on the day I went to Spain and was out of contact.
All I can say is that if you are enthusiastic, but a little scared, I'll help out as much as I can if you come when I still live here.
By help out I'll offer a certain level of 'protection' for both of you wherever possible.

[cheerypeabrain]

What a lovely thing to say! thank you onlyMark I dunno if we'll be going for a while yet...I keep putting it off for the reasons mentioned in my post My OH speaks a little Arabic as he's worked in the Yemen and Saudi Arabia (in the 70s and 80s)...and we both got by reasonably when we visited Morocco, the people there thought we were hilarious as we struggled with the language.

Thank you again for your very kind offer. ;D

[onlymark]

I don't really know Arabic at all, but I do know there are differences between 'Arabic' and Egyptian Arabic. A bit like that between High German and normal German probably. My wife is learning Egyptian Arabic as that is the most common form but she often fails to understand normal Arabic as spoken by a non-Egyptian (like her father and step mother).

Also there are numerous different dialects with the country itself, split roughly north to south and east to west with the west being influenced by Libya and the east with Jordan/Syria.
Thus, even if you are fluent in 'Arabic' you may still not be understood, especially in rural areas. For a beginner it is off-putting and you think you are getting it wrong yourself, but actually you are perfectly right - it's just not their Arabic.

So it is perfectly obvious, that's why I don't take lessons and stick to shouting in English and waving my arms around.

[onlymark]

You're welcome.

[Deleted]

Just wondering, Mark -- have your kids learned Arabic in school?

[onlymark]

They are learning Egyptian Arabic. 'Learned' means to me that they know it. But they actually know very little. It's a bit like when I did French at school for four years and never really knew much at all.
They are taught in German, have English as the second language taught and as well as all the other lessons, that's about enough for me. It's a shame as it could well be useful but I don't see it as a priority for them and would rather their time be spent improving the core subjects that they are weak on.

We just really pay lip service to the homework and the tuition for it.
Bear in mind, in case it was never mentioned anywhere, that their mother tongue is in fact Spanish but when we moved to Germany as they started schooling we had to let that language slip and concentrate on their learning German to survive normally in the school.
English I always spoke to them and they were disadvantaged enough without getting too tied up with trying to learn two languages from the 'get go' (German and English) plus any other soon after and retaining the little Spanish that they actually did know.

[onlymark]

However, as much as I don't mind straying off the subject and will readily answer questions, we must consider Rule 27, Paragraph 4, subsection 3ii of the forum regulations (as amended by footnote 17b) -

Any off topic posts numbering more than three consecutively, or a total of more than 35% of the total thread, shall result in sanctions being considered against the offending parties by the forum Mods.
There is no automatic right off Appeal but one may be instigated by general consensus.

Defences to this offence are limited and number only two.
1. The offender is a Moderator
2. The offender comes from the East Midlands of England

Kerouac - I think we're in the clear but don't quote me on it.

[lola]

I offer my share of blanket general consensus.

Glad this surfaced. Beautiful.

[Deleted]

[gertie]

I saw this on the news here, too, K2. They said there were some items missing now on the news here. I couldn't find the tv news item online, but I did find this link:

artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/valuable-artifacts-missing-from-egyptian-museum/

It says 18 items have been found missing, but I saw a note about some items being found on the Museum grounds. I have to say when I was hearing about it, I wondered if any of the items K2 has posted were damaged or looted. One of the items they were happy to show had not been touched was King Tutankamon's gold head shown up there in one of K2's pictures. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures, I hope they get things cleared up so people can visit the Museum again soon.

[onlymark]

See post 284 here
anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=egypt&action=display&thread=4786&page=10

[kerouac2]

Tomorrow, the treasures of King Tutankhamun arrive in Paris fofr an exhibition until mid-September. It's the second stop on King Tut's world tour (Los Angeles was first), which will last for the next three years until the new Egyptian museum is ready in 2022. These treasures were last in Paris 50 years ago, and it is still the exhibition that holds the record for the most visitors ever -- more than 1,200,000. So far 150,000 tickets have been sold in advance and I can imagine the throngs all summer long.

In 1965 all of the items were shown in the Petit Palais, but this time the venue is the Grande Halle de la Villette, which had to change absolutely all of its doors to armoured doors for security reasons. (The recent World Tattoo show and the Japanese manga show which were there earlier this year did not require this for some reason.) In any case, the huge gold mask (see above) is not part of the show, because it no longer leaves Egypt. The exhibit will move to London on November 2nd and stays until May 3rd. In 2021, it will all be in Sydney for 6 months. The Australian museum is undergoing a A$50 million upgrade to be ready for its royal visitor.

[kerouac2]

I happened to pass by this morning, but starting tomorrow there will be a mob scene in front.

imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/4636/fRS1QA.jpg

imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/7489/qDgPxs.jpg

[onlyMark]

Curious as to why the different spelling. Don't quote me on this but isn't it generally if someone has a name you still use the same name when you talk about that person in a foreign language?

[kerouac2]

I agree. Since we can't read the name in hieroglyphs, the only Latin alphabet transcription should be the one made by the original decipherer Jean-François Champollion in the 1820's.

Then we can debate the names of the Russian Tsars and the Chinese and Japanese emperors.

[cheerypeabrain]

Coincidentally there is an excellent documementary series on channel 4 atm (started on Sunday) about the valley of the kings. The first episode concentrated in part on the brand new Tutankhamun centre being built...bringing all the artefacts from Tutankhamun tomb to this one location. At present the artefacts are all over Egypt. This episode also showed the opening of an intact 4000 year old tomb. Really nice to have a fairly intelligent, unpatrinising documentary rather than the usual sensationalist speculative nonsense we seem to be presented with these days.

[whatagain]

The first picture is the view I got when looking for our 2 years old who had escaped us. Plus 20 arabs who were trying to console him wondering what kind of parents would lose their son in a museum.