FAMOUS EGYPTIAN MUSEUM:

Egyptian Museum Part (1):

The greatest collection of Egyptian antiquities is, without doubt, that of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It is a place of true discovery and, even after many visits, I continue to make new and delightful discoveries every time I venture into its many galleries.

In 1984 the Uruguayan Society of Egyptology opened an Egyptian Museum with the purpose of offering the students of the Uruguayan Institute of Egyptology an opportunity to see ancient Egyptian objects without leaving our premises. The small collection consisted then of mostly good reproductions of such objects obtained from big European or North American museums.

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of history. Not only does it house the world’s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities, it also houses the many treasures of King Tutankhamen, and many interesting statues that moved with the museums many re-locations. The Egyptian government established the museum, built in 1835 near the Asbakiya Gardens. The museum soon moved to Boulaq in 1858 because the original building was too small to hold all of the artifacts. In 1855, shortly after the artifacts were moved, Duke Maximilian of Austria was given all of the artifacts. He hired a French architect to design and construct a new museum for the antiquities. The new building was to be constructed on the bank of the Nile River in Boulaq. In 1878, after the museum was completed for some time, it suffered irreversible damage; a flood of the Nile River caused the antiquities to be relocated to another museum, in Giza. The artifacts remained there until 1902 when they were moved, for the last time to the current museum in Tahrir Square. This is the history of Egyptian Museums.