Rare treasure offers priceless insights

Egyptian museum gaining public recognition for role in city’s history

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — Ever heard of Alexandria National Museum in Egypt? It’s little known, even to Egyptians, but the rare treasure contains about 1,800 priceless Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Islamic and Coptic artifacts that narrate the story of the Mediterranean historical city of Alexandria north of capital Cairo.

Located in the busy Horreya Street in downtown, the museum looks like a secluded but elegantly-designed three-story white palace. The building once belonged to a wealthy Lebanese-born wood merchant who sold it to the consulate of the United States in 1954 before Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities bought it in 1996 to turn it into a museum.

Alexandria National Museum was opened to the public in 2003, hosting artifacts of historical events from the Pharaonic dynasties, passing through the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine and Islamic periods until the beginning of Mohammed Ali’s era as Egypt’s ruler and finally the Egyptian anti-British 1952 revolution.

The main floor hosts Greco-Roman artifacts, while the basement contains ancient Egyptian Pharaonic antiquities and the upper floor exhibits Islamic, Coptic and artifacts from the modernage.

“The oldest antiquities we have here are those of the Old Kingdom of the Pharaonic era, dating back 5,000 to 6,000 years,” said Ahmed Tawfik, the museum’s manager. “Most of Alexandria artifacts are Greek and Roman, so we brought the Pharaonic artifacts from various museums in Cairo and Upper Egypt.”

He added that the frequency of visitors to the museum has increased over the past couple of years.

A group of visitors who were touring the museum said they were impressed not just by the exhibits but by the facility’s layout.

Happy visitors

“I am very happy with the way of exhibition used in the museum. The movement inside the museum is also so smooth that it makes a visitor tour it all without getting lost or missing anything,” said Ola Mahmoud, an assistant professor at a college of applied arts.

In the Pharaonic section, items from the old, middle and new kingdoms are on display, including an alabaster statue of King Mankaure (or Menkaure), the builder of the third pyramid on the Giza Plateau, a head of a sandstone statue of Ikhnaton and a head of a painted limestone statue of Queen Hatshepsut.

“We have a distinguished part in this section, which is a model of a tomb with a real mummy inside. This part attracts adults and children, Egyptians and foreigners, alike, because mummification remains an unknown secret lying with ancient Egyptians,” said Rasha Ali, the Pharaonic section’s curator.

“Ancient Egyptians believed in body mummification after death to preserve it for use in the afterlife. This is why they placed a mask on the mummy’s head to help the soul recognize it according to their belief.”

The museum also features the sunken city of Cleopatra, the queen of Greek Macedonian descent who drove the merging of Pharaonic and Greek cultures in ancient Egypt.

Lina Mohamed, a college student of sculpture, said that it was her first time at the museum and would recommend it.

“I liked most how the hall designs suited the exhibited artifacts. The Pharaonic section in the basement is dim-lit to go with the atmosphere of tombs, the Greco-Roman section has light walls to go with the marble and granite statues and the third floor was medium lit to suit the objects of pottery, textile and coins,” she said.

Ancient Egyptians believed in body mummification after death to preserve it for use in the afterlife.” Rasha Ali,