The Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It contains the largest collection of antiquities of ancient Egypt, rivalled by the British Museum, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum (New York). The Egyptian Museum has been located in Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo since 1906. The museum exhibition contains 136 thousand Pharaonic antiquities, in addition to hundreds of thousands of antiquities in its stores.
The story of the museum’s founding began with the great global interest in Egyptian antiquities after deciphering the Rosetta Stone by the French scientist Champollion. The first nucleus of the museum was a small house at the ancient Azbakeya pond, where Muhammad Ali Pasha ordered the registration of fixed Egyptian antiquities and the transfer of valuable antiquities to the Azbakeya Museum in 1835.
After the death of Muhammad Ali, the theft of antiquities returned, and his successors followed the path of donations, and the museum’s holdings dwindled. In 1858, Mariette was appointed as the first commissioner (to occupy the antiquities), i.e., the head of the Antiquities Department. He found that there must be an antiquities administration and museum, so he chose the Bulaq area to establish a museum of Egyptian antiquities and transferred to it the antiquities found during his excavations (such as the traces of the tomb of Ahhotep). In 1863 AD, Khedive Ismail approved the project to establish a museum of Egyptian antiquities, but the project was not implemented. Rather, he was satisfied with giving Mariette (Ar Bekhana) to expand his museum in front of the Antikhana House in Bulaq.
In 1878, a severe rise occurred in the Nile flood, which caused the flooding of the Bulaq Museum and the loss of some of its contents.
In 1881 the museum was reopened, and in the same year, Mariette died and was succeeded by Maspero as director of antiquities and the museum.
In 1890, when the collections of the Bulaq Museum increased, they were transferred to the Giza Serail.
And when the scientist (De Morgan) came as the head of the interest and the museum, he re-arranged these collections in the new museum, known as the Giza Museum.
From 1897 to 1899, Loret came as de Morgan’s successor.
But Maspero returned to run the department and the museum from 1899 – 1914, and in 1902 he transferred the antiquities to the museum’s current building (in Tahrir Square). One of the most active assistants in his second work period was the Egyptian scientist Ahmed Pasha Kamal, who was the first to specialize in Egyptian antiquities Old and worked for many years in the museum.
The first Egyptian director of the museum was Mahmoud Hamza, who was appointed in 1950.
The museum had a brief guide from the Maspero situation dating back to 1883 AD, but it made a large guide for the new museum, which has been printed and repeated from 1915 until now (but with many modifications).