Top things to do in Egypt

Pyramids of Giza

For nearly 4000 years, the extraordinary shape, impeccable geometry and sheer bulk of the Giza Pyramids have invited the obvious question: ‘How were we built, and why?’

Centuries of research have given us parts of the answer. We know they were massive tombs constructed on the orders of the pharaohs by teams of workers tens-of-thousands strong. This is supported by the discovery of a pyramid-builders’ settlement, complete with areas for large-scale food production and medical facilities.

Ongoing excavations on the Giza Plateau have provided more evidence that the workers were not the slaves of Hollywood tradition, but an organised workforce of Egyptian farmers. During the flood season, when the Nile covered their fields, the same farmers could have been redeployed by the highly structured bureaucracy to work on the pharaoh’s tomb. In this way, the Pyramids can almost be seen as an ancient job-creation scheme. And the flood waters made it easier to transport building stone to the site.

But despite the evidence, some still won’t accept that the ancient Egyptians were capable of such achievements. So-called pyramidologists point to the carving and placement of the stones, precise to the millimetre, and argue the numerological significance of the structures’ dimensions as evidence that the Pyramids were constructed by angels or aliens. It’s easy to laugh at these out-there ideas, but when you see the monuments up close, especially inside, you’ll better understand why so many people believe such awesome structures must have unearthly origins.

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Luxor Museum

This wonderful museum has a well-chosen and brilliantly displayed and explained collection of antiquities dating from the end of the Old Kingdom right through to the Mamluk period, mostly gathered from the Theban temples and necropolis. The ticket price puts off many, but don't let that stop you: this is one of the most rewarding sights in Luxor.

The ground-floor gallery has several masterpieces including a well-preserved limestone relief of Tuthmosis III (No 140), an exquisitely carved statue of Tuthmosis III in greywacke from the Temple of Karnak (No 2), an alabaster figure of Amenhotep III protected by the great crocodile god Sobek (No 155) and, one of the few examples of Old Kingdom art found at Thebes, a relief of Unas-ankh (No 183), found in his tomb on the west bank.

A new wing was opened in 2004, dedicated to the glory of Thebes during the New Kingdom period. The highlight, and the main reason for the new construction, is the two royal mummies, Ahmose I (founder of the 18th dynasty) and the mummy some believe to be Ramses I (founder of the 19th dynasty and father of Seti I), beautifully displayed without their wrappings in dark rooms. Other well-labelled displays illustrate the military might of Thebes during the New Kingdom, the age of Egypt’s empire-building, including chariots and weapons. On the upper floor the military theme is diluted with scenes from daily life showing the technology used in the New Kingdom. Multimedia displays show workers harvesting papyrus and processing it into sheets to be used for writing. Young boys are shown learning to read and write hieroglyphs beside a display of a scribe’s implements and an architect’s tools.

Back in the old building, moving up via the ramp to the 1st floor , you come face-to-face with a seated granite figure of the legendary scribe Amenhotep (No 4), son of Hapu, the great official eventually deified in Ptolemaic times and who, as overseer of all the pharaoh’s works under Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BC), was responsible for many of Thebes’ greatest buildings. One of the most interesting exhibits is the Wall of Akhenaten, a series of small sandstone blocks named talatat or ‘threes’ by workmen – probably because their height and length was about three hand lengths – that came from Amenhotep IV’s contribution at Karnak before he changed his name to Akhenaten and left Thebes for Tell al-Amarna. His building was demolished and about 40,000 blocks used to fill in Karnak’s ninth pylon were found in the late 1960s and partially reassembled here. The scenes showing Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti and temple life are a rare example of decoration from a Temple of Aten. Further highlights are treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb, including shabti (servant) figures, model boats, sandals, arrows and a series of gilded bronze rosettes from his funeral pall.

A ramp back down to the ground floor leaves you close to the exit and beside a black-and-gold wooden head of the cow deity Mehit-Weret, an aspect of the goddess Hathor, which was also found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

On the left just before the exit is a small hall containing 16 of 22 statues that were uncovered in Luxor Temple in 1989. All are magnificent examples of ancient Egyptian sculpture but pride of place at the end of the hall is given to an almost pristine 2.45m-tall quartzite statue of a muscular Amenhotep III, wearing a pleated 
kilt.
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Egyptian Museum

One of the world’s most important collections of ancient artefacts, the Egyptian Museum takes pride of place in Downtown Cairo, on the north side of Midan Tahrir. Inside the great domed, oddly pinkish building, the glittering treasures of Tutankhamun and other great pharaohs lie alongside the grave goods, mummies, jewellery, eating bowls and toys of Egyptians whose names are lost to history.

To walk around the museum is to embark on an adventure through time.

Some display cards have become obsolete as new discoveries have busted old theories. And the collection rapidly outgrew its sensible layout, as, for instance, Tutankhamun’s enormous trove and the tomb contents of Tanis were both unearthed after the museum opened, and then had to be shoehorned into the space. Now more than 100,000 objects are wedged into about 15,000 sq metres. Like the country itself, the museum is in flux. Most objects are still on display, although some are being moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum. While some some rooms are being refurbished the objects are deposited elsewhere in the museum. This museum will remain a major sight, but it is not yet clear when the Grand will open and what will remain here.

One of the most rewarding strategies is simply to walk around and see what catches your eye. But it’s hard to shake the sense that something even more stunning is waiting in the next room. We recommend a few highlights – they’re easy enough to spot because they usually have crowds around them – but be sure to stop and see some of the lesser items, as they often do just as well, if not better, in bringing the world of the pharaohs back to life.

The current museum has its origins in several earlier efforts at managing Egypt’s ancient heritage, beginning in 1835 when Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali banned the export of antiquities. French architect Mariette’s growing collection, from 35 dig sites, bounced around various homes in Cairo until 1902, when the current building was erected, in a suitably prominent position in the city. There it has stood, in its original layout, a gem of early museum design.

Until 1996, museum security involved locking the door at night. When an enterprising thief stowed away overnight and helped himself to treasures, the museum authorities installed alarms and detectors, at the same time improving the lighting on many exhibits. During the 2011 revolution, the museum was broken into and a few artefacts went missing. To prevent further looting, activists formed a human chain around the building to guard its contents. By most reports, they were successful. TH

Ground Floor

Before entering the museum, wander through the garden. To your left lies the tomb of Auguste Mariette (1821–81), with a statue of the archaeologist, arms folded, shaded under a spreading tree. Mariette’s tomb is overlooked by an arc of busts of two dozen Egyptological luminaries, including Jean-François Champollion, who cracked the code of the hieroglyphs; Gaston Maspero, Mariette’s successor as director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service; and Karl Lepsius, the pre-eminent 19th-century German Egyptologist.

The ground floor of the museum is laid out roughly chronologically, in a clockwise fashion starting at the entrance hall.

The central atrium (room 43) is filled with a miscellany of large and small Egyptological finds. In the central cabinet No 8, the double-sided Narmer Palette, found at the Temple of Horus in Kom al-Ahmar near Edfu, isof great significance. Dating from around 3100 BC it depicts Pharaoh Narmer (also known as Menes) wearing, on one side, the crown of Upper Egypt and, on the other side, the crown of Lower Egypt, suggesting the first union of Upper and Lower Egypt under one ruler. Egyptologists take this as the birth of ancient Egyptian civilisation, and Narmer’s reign as the first of the 1st dynasty.

Look for the three exquisite black schist triads (room 47) that depict Pharaoh Menkaure (Mycerinus), builder of the smallest of the three Pyramids of Giza, flanked either side by a female figure. In the centre of room 42 is one of the museum’s masterpieces: a smooth, black statue of Khafre (Chephren). The builder of the second pyramid at Giza sits on a lion throne, and is protected by the wings of the falcon god Horus. Slightly to the left, in front of Khafre, the core of the stunning wooden statue of Ka-Aper (No 40) was carved out of a single piece of sycamore (the arms were ancient additions; the legs, modern restorations). His eyes are amazingly lifelike, set in copper lids with whites of opaque quartz and corneas of rock crystal, drilled and filled with black paste to form the pupils. Behind you, to the left of the door, sits the Seated Scribe (No 44), a wonderful painted limestone figure, hand poised as if waiting to take dictation, his inlaid eyes set in an asymmetrical face giving him a very vivid appearance.

Room 32 is dominated by the beautiful statues of Rahotep and Nofret (No 27), a noble couple from the 4th-dynasty reign of Sneferu, builder of the Bent and the Red Pyramids at Dahshur. In a cabinet off to the left, a limestone group shows Seneb, ‘chief of the royal wardrobe’, and his family (No 39). Seneb is notable for being a dwarf: he sits cross-legged, his two children strategically placed where his legs would otherwise have been. Room 37, entered via room 32, contains furniture from the Giza Plateau tomb of Queen Hetepheres, wife of Sneferu and mother of Khufu (Cheops), including a carrying chair, bed, bed canopy and a jewellery box.

Akhenaten (1352–1336 BC), the ‘heretic pharaoh’, did more than build a new capital at Tell al-Amarna, close the temples of the traditional state god Amun, and promote the sun god Aten in his place. He also ushered in a period of great artistic freedom, as a glance around this room will show. Perhaps most striking of all is the unfinished head of Nefertiti (No 161, in the left alcove), wife of Akhenaten. Worked in brown quartzite, it’s an incredibly delicate and sensitive portrait and shows the queen to have been extremely beautiful – unlike some of the relief figures of her elsewhere in the room, in which she appears with exactly the same strange features as her husband.

1st Floor

Exhibits here are grouped thematically and can be viewed in any order, but if you come up the southeast stairs, you’ll enter the Tutankhamun Galleries at room 45 and experience the pieces in roughly the same order they were laid out in the tomb (a poster on the wall outside room 45 illustrates the tomb and treasures as they were found).

The rooms of the Royal Mummies Halls house the remains of some of Egypt’s most illustrious pharaohs and queens from the 17th to the 21st dynasties (1650 to 945 BC). The ticket price is steep, but you certainly won’t see so many mummies in any other single museum, nor get to peer at them so closely. Parents should be aware that the mummies can be a frightening sight for young children.