The Egyptian Museum in Cairo sits at Tahrir Square in the Qasr El Nil district, holding one of the world’s largest collections of ancient Egyptian antiquities. Founded in 1902, the museum houses more than 120,000 artifacts spanning 5,000 years of pharaonic history, from Old Kingdom statues and sarcophagi to daily-life objects and inscriptions. It remains the primary home for the treasures that once filled the tomb of Tutankhamun before many pieces began moving to the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The museum’s most famous holdings include Tutankhamun’s gold funerary mask, gilded coffin elements, and jewelry, prized for the craftsmanship visible even in smaller funerary pieces. Visitors will also find an extensive collection of Old Kingdom statues, papyri, coffins, and sarcophagi alongside artifacts illustrating pharaonic embalming practices. Note that the Royal Mummies have been permanently transferred to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat, so that hall is no longer in operation here.
The museum opens daily at 9:00 am, with crowds building steadily from late morning and peaking between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm, making early visits the best strategy. Licensed Egyptologists are available at the entrance for guided tours, which are especially useful given the museum’s minimal object labeling. Allow enough time to appreciate both the ground-floor highlights and the quieter upstairs galleries.