Category: Cairo Attractions

Cairo’s Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Museum: Cairo is the capital of Egypt and a great place to learn about the Pharaonic, Islamic, and Coptic cultures. The Saladin Citadel, the mosques, and the Islamic Quarter are all great places to see the beauty of Islamic architecture.

In the Coptic Quarter, you can find out more about how La Sagrada Familia came to be and see how the churches looked in the past. “The Pyramids of Giza of Cheops, Khafre, and Menkaure” are the first thing people see when they visit Cairo.

The Egyptian Museum is the second most-visited place in Cairo that has to do with ancient Egypt. The Cairo Museum is another name for it.

How the Egyptian Museum came to be

In 1835, the first museum was built to keep treasures and monuments from being stolen by locals or people from other countries. This museum in Esbakeya park was small. After that, he was sent to the Saladin Citadel. When the Emperor of Austria, Maximilian, went to Egypt in 1855, the governor of Egypt, Abbas Pacha, gave him a collection that is now in the museum.

Augusto Mariette built a new one in the Bolaq neighbourhood in 1858, but it was destroyed by a big flood. Then he moved to Ismael Pacha’s palace. The new “Egyptian Museum” was designed by Marcel Dourgon in 1897.

In April 1897, the dynasty of Abbas Helmi II celebrated the laying of the first stone. Ismael Pacha’s palace statues were moved to the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo in 1902.

How the Egyptian Museum was made

He put up 73 designs for the Egyptian Museum, but the one that was chosen was by the French architect Marcel Dourgon. It was the first museum ever to be built with the purpose of being a museum (no building became a museum). The outside was more like a neoclassical building than an ancient Egyptian one, but the rooms inside looked like Egyptian temples.

In 2006, the Museum had its most important repair. In 2016, 267 paintings from the Museum were used to bring it back to its original shape. The Museum has 50 rooms spread out over two floors. The rooms are in order of when they were built.

When the Egyptian Museum was built

It is in downtown Cairo on Tahrir Square. The Museum has more than 120,000 items from ancient Egypt. There are two floors in the Museum;

Downstairs, there are papyrus sheets from the last 2,000 years that have writing in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. There are also Greek, Roman, and Islamic gold, bronze, and silver coins from different times. Many things from the new, middle, and old empires can be found here (found in the tombs of pharaohs).

More than 5,000 items were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. On the second floor, there is a room with Tutankhamun’s things and his gold mask. There is also a room for the new empire’s mummies and things found in the Valley of the Kings.

The Egyptian Museum’s Displays

1- The Mask of Tutankhamun and his Sarcophagus are two of the most important pieces of ancient Egyptian art. Gold, glass, and valuable stones are used to make the mask. Gold is used to make the sarcophagus. They were among the things that were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

2- The statues of Amenhotep II and his wife are connected. They are 36 m tall and come from the XVIIth dynasty. In the first room, they are in the middle of the room. Along with them are three small statues that look like their daughters.

2- Narmer paddle: This is a small plate with many symbols that show how Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt were brought together.
3- Statue of Pharaoh Jasejemuy. He was the last pharaoh of the second dynasty of Egypt’s unified empire.
4- The King Cheops statue was made during Dynasty IV. The back of the statue’s head and the fact that she is sitting on a throne are signs of the god Horus.

How the Museum Works

The mausoleum of Auguste Mariette was moved to the garden of the Egyptian Museum, which has a lot of Egyptian artefacts. At the time the Egyptian Museum was built, there were 12,000 ancient Egyptian artefacts. However, as more artefacts were found, the number grew to 120,000.

It is found in the basement of the Egyptian Museum with 600 artefacts that haven’t been properly logged. At the moment, there are more than 150,000 ancient monuments, so the Great Egyptian Museum is being built to hold all of the monuments that are currently on display and in warehouses.

Egypt is a great place to visit.

Check out our trips in Cairo if you want to see the sights in Cairo. If you want a magical vacation, you can look at our Egypt travel packages. If you want to see Upper Egypt, you can choose your dream trip from our Nile cruises.

Giza’s Great Pyramid of Cheops

The Great Pyramid of Cheops: Egypt was “the cradle of ancient civilization and the land of the Pharaohs.” The Pharaohs thought that gods chose kings, so they built pyramids as tombs for kings to keep their bodies, treasures, food, furniture, golden vessels, and everything else they would need in the afterlife.

Egypt has more than 100 pyramids, and many of them are very important. However, the three Pyramids of Giza (Cheops, Kefren, and Mycerinos) are the most important and well-known because of their size and the fame of their Kings.

This Complex of Giza is a tourist spot in Cairo, but it is also an interesting place. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the most well-known. It is thought to be one of the ancient world’s seven wonders because it has many mysteries and secrets.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, also called the Pyramid of King Cheops or Jufu, is the biggest pyramid in Egypt and the only one of the seven ancient wonders that is still standing.

It is northeast of the complex at Giza. It is right in the middle of Planet. It was built in 2560 B.C. by King Cheops, who was the king of the IV dynasty. “Akhet Khufu,” which means “the Horizon of Cheops,” was its name.

Who Built the Great Pyramid of Cheops?

Hemiunu was the man who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. He was the son of Nefermaat, who built the Pyramid of King Seneferu (the father of King Cheops). Hemiunu was a great architect and vizier. Near the Great Pyramid of Giza is where his tomb is. It was written in his tomb’s stones on some dates that refer to Cheops’s rule. In the Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany, there is a statue of Hemiunu made out of limestone.

History of the Great Pyramid and a Description

When Cheops was king, the pyramid of his father “King Seneferu” made him think about building his own tomb. Hemiunu was his builder. From 2540 B.C. to 2560 B.C., it took 20 years to build the Great Pyramid. It was 146.5 m tall when it was first built, but time and wear on the top have made it 138.5 m tall.

It was the tallest for 3800 years, until the Lincoln Cathedral was built in England with a height of 160 m in the 14th century (1300 A.D.). Each big block of Tura limestone and Aswan granite that went into building the Great Pyramid weighed between 2 and 60 tonnes.

The Great Pyramid is almost 6 million and half a million tonnes heavy. The upper parts were made of blocks that weighed 1 tonne, and the lower parts were made of blocks that weighed 1.5 or 2 tonnes and stood 1 or 1.5 m tall. The blocks in the King’s chamber, on the other hand, were made of red granite and weighed 50 or 70 tonnes and stood 70 m tall.

The face of the pyramid was smooth and made of 27,000 polished white limestone stones that shined. It was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1600s, and the stones that made up its face were later used to build many places in Cairo. Its sides were 230 m long, but one was lost and was replaced by some stones. The new sides are 227 m long and point to the original cardinal points at an angle of 51.

People say that almost 100,000 people worked on building it. The building of the King’s chamber was done with red granite. The King’s chamber, the Queen’s chamber, and the subway chamber are the three main rooms inside the pyramid. There is also the great gallery, stellar or ventilation channels, and descending and ascending passages.

The Great Pyramid of Cheops from the inside

It is not clear what the chambers and passages in the Great Pyramid were meant to do. During this time, there were no writings on the chambers and tombs. It took another 250 years, during the V dynasty, for people to start writing about their religions, thoughts, and ideas about life after death.

1-The First Front Door

It is 17 metres high and in the middle of the north side of the Great Pyramid. Right now, it is blocked. Its roof is made of two layers of large, gable-shaped stones that reach into the passageway inside the Pyramid. It’s hard to walk when there are only narrow paths.

2-The Present Doorway

Tourists go in through this door. In the year 823, Caliph Al-Mamun gave the order to build it. Since no one knew where the original entrance was, a new one was built 16 metres above the ground using levers close to the original entrance. The original one was lower and not as comfortable as this one.

3- The Passage Going Down

It is 1.20 m tall, slopes down at a 26-degree angle, and goes 28 m towards the ascending passage, 70 m towards the inside of the Pyramid, and then goes horizontally towards the subway chamber from this point.

4- The Chamber Below Ground

It was dug out underground and had an uneven floor, a flat roof, and flat walls. A narrow passage leads from it to the big gallery.

5- The Big Picture

There is a big passage with stones to walk on. It’s 47 metres long and 8 metres tall. It goes all the way into the King’s room.

6- Antecamera

It is a horizontal passage that connects the end of the great gallery to the King’s chamber. It has a small room with three big granite blocks that are used to close the King’s room.

7- The King’s Room

It had a square base, smooth walls and a smooth ceiling made of red granite. The ceiling is flat and made of 9 pieces of red granite (each one is 45 tons). Its sides are 10 m and 5 m, and it is 5 m tall. There are five unloading chambers above the King’s chamber so that the weight of the top of the Pyramid doesn’t fall all at once on the ceiling of the King’s chamber. There is a red granite sarcophagus in the King’s chamber. It was put there when the chamber was being built. The sarcophagus is split into three parts that are 0.98 m, 2.27 m, and 1.05 m high.

8- The Room for the Queen

It’s right in the middle of the Pyramid. The heights of the demissions are 5.23 m, 5.76 m, and 4.6 m. It has a square floor plan, smooth walls, and a white limestone ceiling that hides the ceiling. It has a gable-shaped roof (sloping). Its path goes through the great gallery. This room is not where a wife is buried.

9- Star or Ventilation Channels

On the north and south sides of the King’s and Queen’s rooms, there are two narrow channels that slope down. No one knows what these channels are used for. They are said to be for ventilation, but the channels in the Queen’s chamber are covered with granite blocks. Egyptologists think that their purpose is religious. They believe that the channels lead to a famous star in ancient Egypt and send the King’s soul to heaven.

Were Slaves Used to Build the Pyramids?

When you think about how amazing it is that the pyramids were built, especially the Great Pyramid, you can’t figure out how it was done. Logically, it couldn’t have been done by slaves, but by skilled people and peasants (when they weren’t working in the fields). In ancient Egypt, many peasants made their living by building things.

Egypt via travel can take you to more places.

There are many historical sites in the Giza Complex that draw tourists, and there are many more to see in Cairo. There are both old cities like Luxor and Aswan and new cities like the Red Sea in the land of the Pharaohs. You can look at our Egypt Packages and Nile Cruise Packages to find the best trip for you.

The beautiful Pyramids of Giza

The Giza Pyramids Complex is the only place on Earth where the true meaning of the word “majestic” can be seen in a building. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the seven ancient wonders of the world that is still standing. It is part of a complex with two other pyramids. Each pyramid is impressive in its own way and shows a level of political and economic stability.

The Complex is one of the last intact prehistoric monuments on Earth. It was built during the 4th dynasty (2613–2493 B.C.) in the time of the ancient empire (2686–2181 B.C. ), more than 4000 years ago, and it still has the heart and soul of everything you see.

It has three pyramids built by Cheops, Chephren, and Menkaure, who wanted to look at time and make sure that their names and legacies would last forever. Each pharaoh built a pyramid to be his final resting place and help his soul reach the heavens.

The Temple of the Valley is right next to the pyramids. This is where kings and queens were mummified and made ready to cross over. The Complex is 9 kilometres west of the Nile River, in the western desert. 13 kilometres to the south-southwest of the centre of Cairo. The only guardian of Egypt, “The Great Sphinx,” keeps an eye on the complex.

What will you find in the complex of the pyramids at Giza?

King Cheops’s Great Pyramid (Khufu)

The Great Pyramid is the last ancient wonder that hasn’t been touched by people. It was built for King Khufu between 2580 and 2560 B.C., when Egypt was an empire. It took 20 years to build.

The Greeks called him King Cheops. It stood 147 metres (481 feet) tall and was the tallest building in the world for more than 3800 years, until Lincoln’s Cathedral was built in 1311. It was built by 10,000 skilled workers with 2.3 million blocks of limestone. Each block weighed 2.5 tonnes.

It was made by the vizier of the pharaoh Khufu, whose name was “Hem-Iunu.” He used the resources of the golden age of the ancient empire to make a true architectural masterpiece.

King Chephren’s Pyramid (Khafre)

King Khafre had the second-largest pyramid in Egypt built (2558-2532 BC). In the year 2540 B.C., during the 4th Dynasty, Jafra, who was Jufu’s son, wanted to build a building like the one his father had built. The Greeks called this building Chephren. It stands 136.4 metres (448 feet) tall and has a base that is 215.5 metres (706 feet) wide. It is also made of limestone and has a 51.50.24-degree angle. In front of the Pyramid is the guardian of Egypt’s famous “Sphinx.” This is the world’s oldest statue, and it was made to look like Pharaoh Jafra.

King Mykerinos’ (Menkaure’s) Pyramid:

The one that is the smallest of the three. It was built in 2510 BC at the request of King Menkaure, the sixth king of the IV Dynasty, to be his tomb. It is made of limestone on the outside and granite stone on the inside. It stands 61 metres (204 feet) tall on a base that is 108.5 metres wide and has a 51° 20′ 25′′ angle. Granite is used to build the inside of the pyramid.

Giza’s Great Sphinx

Ancient Egyptians made sphinxes as signs of strength and intelligence. This is why it was important to give them a lion’s body and a human head, which represent the power and strength of the King. The Pharaohs thought of the lion as a strong protector, so they used it on their amulets, furniture, and temple doors. The Great Sphinx of Giza is the most well-known sphinx. The Great Sphinx is the world’s oldest and biggest. There are a lot of questions about when it was built and why it doesn’t have a nose.

Read about the meanings of ancient Egyptian symbols.

Learn about the history of Egyptian culture.

Egypt’s history is full of interesting things, so don’t miss the chance to see and learn about the hidden world of the Pyramid Complex of Giza. Check out our vacation packages to Egypt and Nile cruises to enjoy your trip to the land of the pharaohs.