Cairo, Egyptian Museum

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Institution

Institutional history:

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo was established by Muhammad Ali Pasha and the Museum was relocated to the Ministry of Public Education at the Citadel, where objects were intermittently given away. Said Pasha presented the remaining objects in this first collection to Archduke Maximilian Joseph of Austria-Este in 1855, which were then given to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

By 1863, a new museum, the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities was opened at Bulaq by Auguste Mariette but flooding in 1878 damaged the building and the collections were moved in 1891 to a former royal palace in Giza. By 1893 in order to address lack of storage and unsuitable display conditions a new museum was planned to house the antiquities in Tahrir Square that was finally completed in 1902.

Material from British excavations that was retained in Cairo may have found its way elsewhere because of the sale room in the museum. With the construction of two new large museums in Cairo in the early 21st century - the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) and the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) - the Cairo Museum's collection has begun to be split up.

Notes on distribution:

Excavated objects from the British School of Archaeology in Egypt's work at Mostagedda were included in the first displays of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) when it opened in Fbruary 2017.

Related archive documents

Relevant publications:

Bénédite, Georges 1907. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos. 44001-44102: miroirs. Le Caire : Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.

Carter, Howard and Percy E. Newberry 1904. Catalogue général des antiquitiés égyptiennes du musée du Caire. Nos. 46001-46529: the tomb of Thoutmôsis IV. Westminster: Constable.

Crum, W.-E. 1902. Coptic monuments: Nos 8001-8741. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Le Caire: Institut Francais d'Archéologie Orientale.

Currelly, Charles T. 1913. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos 63001-64906: stone implements. Le Caire: Imprimerie de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale.

Daressy, G. 1902. Fouilles de la Vallée des Rois (1898-1899): nos 24001-24990. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Le Caire: Imprimerie de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale.

Daressy, Georges 1903. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos 9401-9449: textes et dessins magiques. Le Caire : Impr. de l'IFAO.

Edgar, C. C. 1903. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos. 32001-32367: Greek moulds. Le Caire : Institut Francais d'Archéologie Orientale.

Edgar, C. C. 1903. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos 27425-27630: Greek sculpture. Le Caire: Impr. de l'IFAO.

Edgar, C. C. 1905. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos 32401-32800: Graeco-Egyptian glass. Le Caire : Impr. de l'IFAO.

Hawass, Zahi 2002. Hidden treasures of the Egyptian Museum: one hundred masterpieces from the centennial exhibition. Kairo: American University in Cairo Press.

Ikram, Salima and Aidan Dodson 1997. Royal mummies in the Egyptian Museum. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.

Ikram, Salima and Nasry Iskander 2002. Catalogue général of Egyptian antiquities in the Cairo Museum. Nos. 24048 - 24056; 29504 - 29903 (selected); 51084 - 51101; 61089: Non-human mummies. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Josephson, Jack A. and Mamdouh Mohamed Eldamaty 1999. Catalogue général of Egyptian antiquities in the Cairo Museum. Nrs. 48601 - 48649: statues of the XXVth and XXVIth Dynasties. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Lange, H. O. and H. Schäfer 1902-1925. Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs, 4 vols. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire 51-54. Berlin: Reichsdruckerei.

Niwiński, Andrzej 1999. Catalogue général of Egyptian antiquities in the Cairo Museum. Nos. 6069-6082: the second find of Deir El-Bahari (coffins). Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Niwiński, Andrzej 1995. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du musée du Caire. Nos. 6029-6068: la seconde trouvaille de Deir el-Bahari (sarcophages). Le Caire: Conseil Suprême des Antiquités de l'Egypte.

Sabbahy, Lisa K. 2009. Catalogue general of Egyptian antiquities in the Cairo Museum. Nos. 17037-17091, 7127-7129: anthropoid clay coffins. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Saleh, Mohamed and Hourig Sourouzian 1987. The Egyptian Museum Cairo: official catalogue. Mainz: Zabern.

Spiegelberg, Wilhelm 1904. Die demotischen Denkmäler 30601-31166, I: Die demotischen Inschriften. Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Leipzig: W. Drugulin.

Tiradritti, Francesco (ed.) 1999. Trésors d'Égypte: les merveilles du Musée Égyptien du Caire. Paris: Gründ.

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