4.1 MET: Egyptian Antiquities Museum

The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo seems at first lacking its uniqueness among other major museums in the world, many of which house an abundance of Egyptian sculptures, sarcophagi, mummies, and large murals. When I first stepped into the Egyptian Arts Department in the MET in New York years ago, I was met with two colossal seated pharaoh statues flanked by equally tall limestone walls, which temporarily made me feel spatially displaced as if I'd been all of sudden dropped in Egypt. The Louvre and the British Museum are also well stocked with Egyptians artifacts. So the first impression of the Cairo museum is somewhat of a déjà vu.



However, as I walked around the spacious galleries, the shear number of artifacts was simply overwhelming. Besides quantity, there were still many unique objets d’art that weren’t on permanent loans to Western museums.



Colossal statues of Amenhotep III and his Royal Great Wife, Tiye, parents to the famous religion reformer Akhenaten, grantparents to yet more famous Tutankhamun. Statuettes of their three daughters stand by their feet, a tradition in ancient pharaohic monuments.



A pyramidion or pyramid capstone from Dahshur. Some believe that a capstone contains the information to allow the pyramid it caps to make contact with other universal systems in the chain of cosmology it arises from and reflects into the Infinite.



Egyptian hieroglyphs on the capstone.



The ancient Egyptians mummified almost everything. Some of the animals, like this mummified Crocodile, used to flourish in both Lower and Upper Egypt, but today they move south to the warmer heartland of Africa.



Cats are sacred animals in ancient Egypt. The most famous cat goddesses are Bastet and the lion headed Sekhmet. On display are some mummified cats whose vertebrates and limbs were broken to fit the shrouds.



A mummified baby baboon.



Of course, the highlight for most visitors is Tut’s treasures, of which the most famed artifact is the Boy King’s gold mask.



Tutankhamun’s funerary bed in the form of ancient god, Mehet-Weret.



Akhenaten, or originally Amenhotep IV, changed his name to pursue a monotheistic worship of Aten. He and his world-famous chief wife Nefertiti even moved the capital away from Thebes (Luxor). The stunt was only reversed by his successor Tutankhaten or Tutankhamun, as he renamed himself later to resume his loyalty to Amun.



The great Ramesses II, no longer 20 meters tall by Lake Nasser, lies quietly, humbly, and humanly in this air conditioned, humidity controlled, and shock absorbed glass case.