The Cairo Museum

Part 1

See small pictures of the artifacts mentioned in the text to the right - click on the pictures to see larger. more detailed copies.

Click here to go to Part II of this article.

The biggest collection in the world of Ancient Egyptian artifacts is housed in this impressive Neo-Classical building in Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo. It was designed by French architect, Marcel Dourgnon and was opened in 1902; prior to this the contents, as collected by Auguste Mariette, were housed in a museum at Boulak. The building, set within a garden, dotted here and there with Pharaonic statues, has just 2 floors but these are packed almost beyond capacity with treasures of all kinds from all periods of ancient Egypt. Your first visit to the museum can be quite daunting because of the sheer number of objects confronting you, to your right, your left and straight ahead - where to start? There is a plan amongst this apparent confusion! 

On the ground floor, displays in the wide corridors and rooms off the corridors are from the Old, Middle and New Kingdom; on the second floor are artifacts from all periods of ancient Egypt and displays include the jewellery Room, the Tanis silver collection, two mummy rooms, an animal mummy room and of course, the superlative Tutankhamun collection.

It is absolutely impossible to list here even a fraction of what is in this museum so I'm going to mention just some of the highlights of the Old and Middle Kingdoms and include some of my own favourites.

As you enter the museum the first 'highlight' and one of my favourite pieces is to your right - the Narmer Slate palette - its been called the 'earliest historical record' from Egypt. Narmer after whom the palette is named is believed by some to be the first king of a unified Egypt and founder of the 1st dynasty [ca.3050-2890BCE]. He's depicted on both sides of the palette; on one side, wearing the conical White Crown of Upper Egypt, with a bull's tail hanging from the waist of his short kilt, he's shown about to smite a prisoner with his upraised mace. This smiting pose became known as the 'icon of majesty' and was used by many of Ancient Egypt's Pharaohs right up to Roman times. (Examples of this smiting poise can be seen at many Egyptian temples - look out for them at such temples as the Pharaonic Karnak and Abu Simbel temples as well as the Graeco-Roman Philae temple.)

On the obverse side are three registers. In the top register the king, wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, walks behind four standard bearers towards a group of decapitated prisoners. The middle register shows two 'serpopards' their twisted necks making a depression to hold the cosmetic powder, while the bottom register shows the king as a bull trampling his enemies.

Also on display in this area is a copy of the famous Rosetta Stone - of black basalt, the stone was discovered at Fort Julien at the Rosetta mouth of the Nile by a French officer serving with Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1799. It's inscribed in three scripts, Hieroglyphs, Demotic and Greek - this last was easily understood by scholars of the time and this led to the eventual decipherment of Hieroglyphs by Jean-Francois Champollion. It is a decree issued by Ptolemy V Epiphanes. [205-180BCE] and dated to Year 9 of his reign. The original is in the British Museum, having been passed to the British by the French under the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801.

From here you can turn left to see the Old Kingdom [ca.2686-2181BCE] exhibits along the left corridor - but on the way, look out for the glass case that contains the life size statue of King Djoser [ca.2668-2649BCE] the owner of the Step Pyramid at Sakkara. This is the original of the one currently to be seen inside his serdab behind his pyramid. It depicts a seated king wearing his heb-sed robe; a head cloth lies over his heavy wig, the whole framing a strong face. Ancient robbers tore out his eyes which were probably made of rock crystal, calcite and perhaps obsidian - the missing eyes give the king a rather sinister look! The practice of providing some statues with such life-like eyes was an Old Kingdom feature and can be seen in other statues in this section - of these I will mention just a few.

Also in the same area don't miss the beautiful triad in green schist depicting the owner of the smallest Giza pyramid Menkaure (Mycerinus) [ca.2532-2504BCE] - here the king is portrayed between two goddesses - Hathor, wearing her distinctive headdress, and a goddess as the personification of the Jackal, Nome, with the standard on her headdress. There are small differences in the height of the figures but look at the faces - they look similar as if they are all related. The musculature of the king and the figures of the goddesses are beautifully detailed.

Carrying on and following the corridor turn right at its end and look for the room containing the two statues of Rahotep, son of Sneferu and his wife Nofret - dating to the 3rd dynasty [ca2686-2613BCE] this pair of statues are of painted limestone but how wonderfully made! Nofret wears a wig but her own hair peeps out from under it - Rahotep has a narrow moustache - quite unusual and rarely seen at any period in ancient Egypt. Their faces are serene and even complacent, and perhaps that's because of their remarkable eyes! The whites are of quartz, the corneas of rock crystal and they have copper eyelids. Shine the beam of a torch onto the eyes and they seem to live again!

Other items to look out for here is the almost life size wooden statue of an official of the Old Kingdom - called the Sheikh of Beled because when it was dug up, it looked like the local leader or Sheikh. A small family sculpture here also warrants inspection - it depicts a dwarf named Seneb seated alongside his normal sized wife, their two children depicted to next their mother's legs in the space left by their father's deformed legs - a beautifully composed group.

Off this room is displayed the tomb furniture of an Old Kingdom queen called Hete-pheres [ca2575-2450BCE]. She was the wife of King Sneferu and mother of the builder of the great Pyramid, King Khufu (Cheops). The wooden furniture was found dismantled and the wood decayed but careful recording enabled it to be recreated by modern craftsmen. There is a large canopy frame, with nearby the long box that held the curtains used to enclose the frame; we can see her bed with the head rest, her chair and a small carrying chair, so small is it that she must have been quite tiny! A wooden box holds her silver bangles, threaded onto a thick wooden dowel. The bangles are beautifully inlaid with dragonflies. Don't miss her fine quality calcite (Egyptian alabaster) canopic box, with four compartments to hold her viscera - the first time such a piece has been recorded.

Also in this room is the only known depiction of her famous son Khufu (Cheops) [ca2589-2566BCE] - this tiny seated statue, about 8cm high, carved from ivory shows the king holding his flail against his right shoulder and wearing the crown of Lower Egypt. The cartouche bearing his name is broken off on the left side of his throne but luckily his name on the right was preserved and enabled him to be identified.

In the next room you'll find one of the great masterpieces of not only Egyptian but world sculpture - this truly magnificent statue is carved from diorite, one of the hardest stones to work - it depicts the owner of the 2nd pyramid, King Khaf-re (Chephren) [ca.2558 2532BCE]. The statue gives the impression of great strength and vitality as befits the king who was considered to be god on earth; so the incorporation of the sacred falcon Horus as part of his headdress is symbolic of not only the protection of Horus but also that the king and Horus are one. The features on the face of the king are said to be the same as those of the Sphinx.

Leaving behind the many other treasures from the Old Kingdom one arrives at the Middle Kingdom exhibits and I'll just mention a few of these. One is the large but unusual looking statue of King Montuhotep II [ca.2060-2010BCE] - the first king of the 11th dynasty [ca 2040-1782BCE] who re-united the Two Lands after a period of political instability. It was found at the end of a tunnel in front of his combined tomb/mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri in Luxor; the king's arms are crossed over his chest and he's clad in a heb-sed robe and wears the red crown of Lower Egypt; the limestone statue is painted black which is believed to indicate that he's been assimilated with Osiris, underworld god of fertility. It doesn't have the refinement of the Old Kingdom statues and is in fact rather crude; it displays the heavy legs that are sometimes seen in the statues of this time.

Nearby are some magnificent and quite unique black granite lion sphinxes complete with manes but each bearing the face of a king believed to be that of the 12th dynasty king Amenemhet III -[ca.1842-1797BCE] because of his cartouches carved onto the shoulder of a lion. Again the work of a master sculptor - look how skillfully the manes of the lions, especially round the face, are depicted.

Other amazing statues to look out for here is an unusual double statue of the king Amenemhet III, the only one of its kind ever found in Egypt - called the 'fish offering statue' , it depicts two statues of the king, both standing close to altars on top of which is a fish - in front the altars are more fish. The wigs of the figures are also unusual, they appear to be heavy with thick braids down the centre back; the beards are spade shaped and totally unlike the usual ritual beards shown on the figures of kings and gods. Going round the back of the group you can see that they wear identical knee length kilts, the waist bands set just below the waist- but note the skilful way the musculature of their backs have been executed by a sadly unknown ancient sculptor.

Before leaving this area look on the right and see the wooden ka figure of an obscure king named Hor - he wears his ka on his head and also has inlaid eyes; this is another of my favourites! Despite this being what can be called a 'religious figure', King Hor, to me looks like a nice chap with his jaunty stride and pleasant expression.

This period saw the introduction of the so-called block or cuboid statue - that is a block of stone with just the head and sometimes the limbs released from the stone. Here in the museum are the earliest examples of this new form and were found in the Sakkara tomb of the 12th dynasty official Hetep. The two statues, one in granite and one in limestone are thought to represent the moment when the deceased frees himself from the compact form which can be compared to the primeval mound out of which, according to Egyptian religious beliefs, everything was made. In these statues his head, legs and arms are already freed.

In Part II I will speak about some of the treasures from the New Kingdom including the Tutankhamun collection.

Click here to go to Part II of this article.
 

To find out how you can visit this fascinating site, please contact Cecelia or Lindy on +27 11 678 4777 or +27 11 478 2884 or email us on: info@egyptandbeyond.co.za.

 
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