We spent four hours at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), from 8:30am to 12:30pm on our last day in Cairo before heading to our river cruise. What an amazing place. The first three hours were spent in the Atrium, on the Grand Staircase, in the Main Galleries, and in the Tutankhamun Collection. During free time, a visit was made to the Khufu Solar Boats. Then there was time left for lunch and a look at the gift shop before heading to where we would meet up to go and visit the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx, and take a camel ride.
The GEM has so many wonderful things to see that I have split this morning excursion into three posts. This one is about the Atrium, the Grand Staircase and the Main Galleries. The second will be about everything Tut and the third will be about the Khufu Solar Boats.
When I visited Egypt the first time, the entire collection of artifacts had been jammed into the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square. It was packed so full of stuff that it was difficult to move, much less see things clearly. That museum is still open and definitely worth a visit. There are still many awe-inspiring pieces there.
The GEM is the largest museum in the world dedicated to just one single civilization. Have I said it is incredible? Amazing? Absolutely stunning?
It is just two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Giza Pyramid Complex. Some people have been calling it the fourth Giza Pyramid. It contains over 100,000 artifacts ranging from the Predynastic Period to Roman Egypt (roughly 6210 BC to 642 AD. At least 20,000 of these artifacts are being displayed to the public for the first time. Another first is the display of the entire 5,398-piece collection from the tomb of King Tutankhamun.
Outside of the main entrance is the Hanging Obelisk of Ramesses II (photo 001). Carved from red granite, the obelisk dates back to about 1279 to 1213 BC and was originally erected in Tanis. It stands approximately 16 meters (roughly 52 ½ feet) high and weighs 80 – 100 tons. It is suspended on a four-column support system which allows visitors to walk beneath it and see the inscriptions there. It is currently the only suspended obelisk in the world.
Part of the façade around the entrance to the museum is decorated with the hieroglyph cartouches of the Egyptian kings and queens (photo 002). Just inside the entrance is the Atrium.
Visitors are greeted there by an 11 meters (roughly 36 feet) tall colossal red granite statue of King Ramesses II. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as Ozymandias, Ramesses II was the son of King Seti I and ruled from 1279 to 1213 BC, dying at the age of 96. I took several photos of this statue with both my phone and my camera from several angles. Four of them (003 to 006) are included here. In photo 004, you can see just how colossal the statue is by comparing it to the people. Photo 005 has a closeup of the dagger through his belt and the cartouche on the belt. Photo 006 shows a side view. If you look carefully, you can see a carving of one of his royal children between his legs.
As we headed to the travelator, we passed the Victory Column of Merenpetah (007) and statues of an unnamed Ptolemaic (Greek) king and his queen (008). The travelator was similar to the moving sidewalks in airports, but inclined upwards next to the Grand Staircase. It allowed anyone who didn’t want to or couldn’t walk up the Grand Staircase to ride to the top of it while still being able to see everything on it. Before getting onto the travelator, I put my phone away to make sure I didn’t drop it while taking photos of the items on the Grand Staircase. My camera has a strap that goes around my neck, so not too much chance of dropping it.
Photos 009 & 010 were taken of the Grand Staircase as I was walking to the travelator. Photos 011 to 014 were taken from the travelator as we rode up to the top. The first section of the Grand Staircase focuses on The Royal Image and so is all about statues of the Pharaohs.
In photo 010, on the left side, you can see two seated statues of a Middle Kingdom Pharaoh on either side of a standing statue of King Senusret III. Across from them to the right is a seated statue of King Thutmose III. Just to his right, you can see a couple of people on the travelator.
In the slightly fuzzy next photo (011) is another seated statue of a Pharoah. To his right is King/Queen Hatshepsut. She was the female pharaoh who represented herself as male. To her right is her successor Thutmose III. That statue was originally also of Hatshepsut but, since Thutmose was trying to erase her existence, he usurped her statue and added his own inscriptions and cartouches. Even though Hatshepsut’s statue is on a lower step, her plinth is bigger and so her statue is actually taller than Thutmose’s.
In 012, on the left we have King Seti II. There is a statue of King Ramesses III behind him, but he can’t be seen in my photograph. King Merneptah (son of Ramesses II) is the statue you can see next to Seti II. Just in front of the person in white, is a colossal head of King Akhenaten (King Tutankhamun’s dad). Behind him begins another section, focusing on the relationship of the King with the gods. These are mainly sculptures of architectural elements.
The threesome on the left in photo 013 consists of Ptah (Egyptian god of creation; patron of craftsmen, architects, and builders), King Ramesses II, and Sekhmet (Egyptian goddess of war, destruction, plague, and healing). At the far right, in front of the man in the white T-shirt, is what they call an Osiride statue of King Senusret I. An Osiride statue is one where a pharaoh is depicted as a mummy with crossed arms. This symbolizes their divine association with Osiris, the god of the afterlife, resurrection, and fertility.
The final section of the Grand Staircase contains Funerary Sculpture. The piece shaped like a pyramid in photo 014 is actually the pyramidion (capstone) of a smallish pyramid in Sakkara of an unknown king. Look up the stairs a bit to the man in a dark shirt and tan trousers. To the left of his shoulder you can see a brightly lit sarcophagus. This was for King Thutmose I and was found in his tomb (KV38) in the Valley of the Kings.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs (or travelator) the reward is this view in photo 015 of the Khufu (aka Cheops) Pyramid — the Great Pyramid — on the left and the Khafre (aka Chephren) Pyramid on the right. Khafre was Khufu’s son. Although his pyramid looks a bit taller than the Great Pyramid in this photo, it isn’t. Just a trick of the angle of the photo.
Next we entered the Main Galleries. These were in chronological order. Halls 01 through 03 covered the following: Prehistoric Egypt, the Predynastic Period, the Early Dynastic Period, the Old Kingdom era (including the pyramid builders of that era), and the First Intermediate Period.
Halls 04 through 06 covered the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period. This would have included Mentuhotep III, Amenemhet I, Senusret III, and Amenemhet III.
Halls 07 through 09 covered the New Kingdom, considered to be Egypt’s imperial golden age. Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, Seti I, and Ramesses II would have been included in this era. Tutankhamun also. But he has his own gallery.
Halls 10 through 12 covered the Third Intermediate Period, the Late Period (including Nubian and Persian dynasties), and the Greek (Ptolemaic) and Roman periods. Cleopatra VII, the famous Cleopatra, was part of the Ptolemaic Greek dynasty as was Alexander the Great.
One of the first encounters I had in these galleries was with this striking-looking fellow in photo 016. His name was Mitri. He held several important titles during the 5th Dynasty. This was a period of about 149 years, from roughly 2494 to 2345 BC, in the Old Kingdom. His titles included “Nome Administrator”, “Priest of the goddess Maat”, and “Overseer of Scribes”. Mitri’s life-sized statue is made of painted wood with eyes made with inlaid stone. He is roughly 4,371 to 4,520 years old.
The second photo I am sharing here (017) is of King Khafre and 018 is of King Menkaure. These are the kings with the other two large pyramids flanking the Great Pyramid of King Khufu. Photo 019 is of a sculpture of the god Osiris on his funerary bed. More about him in later posts when we get into some of the deity myths.
Photo 020 is of some heads and a headless statue in Gallery #5, which focused on the Middle Kingdom. Also from the Middle Kingdom galleries are photo 021 of several statues of Senusret I depicted as Osiris, 022 of King Sensuret I depicted as pharaoh, and a large group of troop models, dating back to the Middle Kingdom (circa 2000 BC) in photo 023. They were found in the tomb of a regional governor named Mesehti.
Photo 024 is of Queen Mutnofret, who was a wife of King Thutmose I and the mother of King Thutmose II. Photo 025 is of a really cool statue of Hatshepsut. I will have a lot more about her when I post about visiting her mortuary temple later on. For now, she lived from about 1505 to 1458 BC and was the 6th Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the daughter of Thutmose I and Queen Ahmose. Thutmose II was her half brother and also her husband. Loads of inbreeding back then. Thutmose III, who succeeded her as pharaoh, was her stepson.
Photo 026 is of some packed lunches. Very interesting looking lunch boxes. Some musical instruments are shown in photo 027. King Amenhotep II, who was the son of Thutmose III is seen in photo 028. In 029 is Thutmose III. The last photo (030) I have included here shows a wig on the left.
Next – The Tutankhamun Collection at the GEM
