Overview
The building itself is part of the story: a purpose-built neoclassical hall of 1902, crowded, labelled by hand in places, and displayed in a manner that has barely changed in a century. Tutankhamun’s treasures and the royal mummies have gone to Giza and to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation respectively. What stays is the depth — Old Kingdom statuary, Middle Kingdom models, the Amarna room and case after case of daily objects.
Highlights
The Old Kingdom galleries on the ground floor hold Khafre enthroned, the Menkaure triads and the painted pair of Rahotep and Nofret, and they are the reason to come. Upstairs, the wooden tomb models show Egyptian working life more directly than any tomb painting. Go early; the museum is hot by midday and the lighting depends on the sun.