Museum of Egyptian Antiquities

So yesterday I went to the ultimate Museum in Egypt.... of Antiquities! Brief history: It was opened in the mid 1850s and has over 136,000 items on display. There are 40,000 more items in crates in the basement, but since the flooring is so soft many of them have sunk into the ground making further excavation necessary! How crazy is that?! So essentially, it is a massive museum. It is located off Tahir square, which is right down the street from the University, so I will probably be a frequent visitor. It was quite a challenge making it to the Museum because it involves crossing several busy streets. However, I latched on to a group of Egyptian women who slowly made their way across. They have confidence that the cars will stop, and are never in a rush to cross the street. I can't have the same confidence, mainly because cars do not actually stop for foreigners. Walking up, you are greeted by a stream of guides offering tours and several armed guards, who usher you through two security points. Inside the museum is like no other I've been too. There is no air conditioning, which makes it stifling hot and the sheer number of items makes an easy display impossible. In most of the side rooms, there are essentially stacks of artifacts, because there isn't enough room on the shelves. It is completely bizarre to see statues from 2000 BC just collected together in the middle of the floor. However, the main areas are pretty well labeled, in English, Arabic, and French, with descriptions often as detailed as "granite stone, IX dynasty." So not so helpful. The more prominent items were better explained. The Tutankhamen section was, in fact, very nice. One of the only air conditioned rooms in the building, it has a special entry way, and was easily the most crowded room. It was totally worth the crowds though to see the mask of Tutankhamen's mummy! I'm pretty sure that there was a picture of the mask on my 7th grade world history book. Now I've seen it! The actual corpse is still at the Valley of the Kings, but I hope to get there sometime to see it too!! You know, I love a good corpse? So my first Egyptian museum experience was pretty good. I plan on returning once I've started classes and learned a little more about the history. You aren't allowed to take cameras inside, so I only have pictures from outside the museum. And I couldn't figure out how to get them to the bottom of the post. So they're up top!