Yes, wonderful things!

I have spent approximately six hours at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in the past two days, and I couldn't be happier about it. Caprill and I dragged ourselves out of Kanzy around 10 AM yesterday (after staying out late at Khan el-Khalili) and took a taxi over to the Museum. After getting our tickets (LE25 with a student ID) and checking our cameras (no photography, even without flash, allowed inside), we headed in.

Prior to our trip, I had done some reading about the Museum in my various guidebooks. According to the Rough Guide to Egypt, which I inherited from Nick, if a person took one minute to view each artifact on display there, it would take nine months to see everything - to say nothing of the tens of thousands of objects in storage for lack of space. The guidebook suggested that we begin our tour in the Museum's atrium, which has examples of statuary, pottery, and sarcophagi dating from the pre-dynastic period to the days of Roman rule. One of my favorite exhibits in this area was the restored floor from the royal palace at Armana, built under Akhenaten and Nefertiti. The style of that particular period (known as the Armana period) is distinct from the more widely-recognized styles of Egyptian art; there is a much greater emphasis on the depiction of nature and of everyday life, rather than scenes associated with the afterlife, and the human figure, while still highly stylized, appears much different than in other eras. At the end of the atrium, opposite the Museum's main entrance, is the Armana Gallery, which contains examples of statuary, relief work, and jewelry from the Armana period. This gallery is undoubtedly the most user-friendly in the entire museum, with descriptions of each piece or group of pieces detailing the context in which they were produced and how they differ from the art forms that came before and after.

While the museum is an essential stop for anyone traveling to Cairo (it's located on one edge of Midan Tahrir, so you have to walk though the city with your eyes closed to miss it), I think that spending hours there as I did is going to appeal primarily to those who are satisfied to look and absorb information and draw conclusions based only on what they see. I'd say that an average of about 15-20% of the objects in each gallery had posted descriptions, and often these were no more detailed than "Statue of the god Horus, limestone, XVIII dynasty." In defense of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, it would probably take a large team of individuals several lifetimes to arrange every piece in a more user-friendly way; there is just so much stuff there. In many galleries, well-preserved stelae covered in hieroglyphics and scenes of gods and men were simply shoved in corners because the room was so jam-packed with artifacts. However, viewing the museum in a chronological manner (starting to one's right at the main entrance, the ground level is organized in order form the pre-dynastic period to the end of the New Kingdom), I was satisfied simply to view the artwork and spend extra time looking at pieces I found particularly interesting.

Upstairs, the highlight is the Tutankhamun Gallery, which features all that gold stuff that didn't make it to Chicago. After breezing through the atrium and Armana gallery on Friday, Caprill and I headed upstairs to see the treasures. It took us a few minutes to locate the beginning of the Tut Gallery (the galleries are numbered, but the numbers aren't always clearly posted); silly us, we should have just looked for the masses of scantily clad Western tourists. It was pretty amazing stuff; the golden chariots, the famous golden throne featuring Tutankhamun and his wife, hundreds of blue faience and stone shabtis, and intricate jewelry. And of course, the mummy's accessories: golden sarcophagi, painted tombs, and the golden mask. Tutankhamun's mummy itself still resides (under guard, obviously) in its tomb in the Valley of the Kings, which I think is fitting.

Today after exploring a few galleries on the second floor that we'd skipped yesterday, including the exhibit on animal mummification (highlight: a full-grown, mummified Nile crocodile), I shelled out an additional LE50 (I love student discounts!) to see the royal mummies, an exhibit which is deceptively small, but worth the extra charge. Leading to the mummy room itself are reproductions of ancient art depicting the mummification and funeral process, as well as examples of the tools of mummification and common artifacts found in tombs (shabtis, canopic jars, amulets, pottery vessels, etc.). The mummy room itself holds a dozen royal mummies, primarily from the 18th and 19th dynasties - Thutmoses I-IV, Seti I, Ramses II, and of course, the recently discovered mummy of Hatshepsut.

Other highlights for me included the photo exhibits explaining how some artifacts had been restored (they've obviously got a great team working on that); the papyrus exhibits (one entire room on the second floor - unfortunately devoid of signs - and several in one of the stairways); blue faience artifacts, including shabtis, ankhs, and jewelry; and a beautifully preserved shrine to Hathor (cow-goddess who protected women) from the 18th dynasty. Many of the objects (sarcophati, statuary, etc.) are decorated on all sides, and so they have ingeniously set up these pieces with mirrors so that the visitor can see everything.

After we'd had our fill of antiquities on Friday, Caprill and I ventured over to Mohandiseen ("City of Engineers") to try Papillon, a Lebanese restaurant she'd read about. It was pure luck that we made it there at all - like most Cairene cabbies, this one had no idea where he had agreed to take us, though the fact that I was pronouncing the name of the restaurant correctly (i.e. in French) probably didn't help - but I'm glad we did, because it was easily the best Middle Eastern food I've ever had. Caprill and I split four appetizers (hummus, falafel, labnah [yogurt] with garlic, and tabouli salad), which came with fresh-baked pita bread. We ended up spending about LE30 each, having eaten most, but not all, of our food, and I'd love to go back for a nice dinner and try their entrees.

Nafiza just got back from her trip to Alexandria (she stayed with the family of her fiance's best friend), and the study abroad kids will return from the Red Sea tomorrow. It's been a quiet weekend here in Cairo, but I'm glad I got the chance to see the Egyptian Museum up close.