History Of The Egyptian Museum In Cairo

History of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo:

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is located northeast of the centrally situated Tahrir Square. It is one of the largest museums in the world and the first national museum in the Middle East. It is, in fact, the fifth building to house Egyptian antiquities and has a long and illustrious history to this day.

Historical Background of the Egyptian Museum:

The idea of a museum for Egyptian antiquities in Egypt dates back to Muhammad Ali Pasha, who was the Viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1848. To put an end to the export of antiquities, he issued a decree on August 15, 1835, which led to the establishment of the first Egyptian antiquities museum in Cairo. The exhibition was located in a building near the El-Ezbekia Garden and was designed by Hakikan Effendi. The collection was managed by Youssef Diaa Effendi. At the same time, Sheikh Rifa’a al-Tahtawi, who was responsible for the excavation and preservation of Egyptian monuments, ordered that no excavations should be conducted without his permission. He announced that the export of artifacts from Egypt was strictly prohibited and that all finds should be transported to the El-Ezbekia Museum.

In 1851, during the reign of Abbas I, the entire collection from El-Ezbekia was moved to one of the halls within the Citadel of Salah El-Din (Saladin), where it was accessible only to private visitors. However, in 1854, most of the objects were gifted to the Austrian crown prince, Archduke Maximilian, who had shown great interest in them during his visit to Egypt. These artifacts now form a significant part of the Egyptian collection at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

The Boulaq Museum:

In 1858, Viceroy Said Pasha appointed the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette as director of a new museum in the Boulaq district of Cairo. Mariette had been sent on a mission to Egypt by the Louvre and had quickly made significant discoveries, including the catacombs of the Serapeum in Saqqara. This museum building initially housed the Nile Navigation Company in the Boulaq port, which is now near the state television building and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 1859, after the discovery of the burial equipment of Queen Ahhotep in Dra' Abu el-Naga in Thebes, the Pasha provided funds to expand the building. The ceremonial inauguration of the Boulaq Museum took place on October 18, 1863, in the presence of Khedive Ismail. However, the museum soon became too small to accommodate all the artifacts that continued to be added to the original collection. In 1869, the building was expanded again. Devastating Nile floods in 1878 caused severe damage to the museum, and it remained closed to the public for repairs until its reopening in 1881. Concerns over future floods, along with the discovery of the royal mummies cache in Deir el-Bahari in 1881, highlighted the need for new museum premises.

The same year, Mariette passed away, and his successor, the French Egyptologist of Italian origin Gaston Maspero, became director of the Boulaq Museum and the Department of Antiquities. By 1890, the collection had grown so large that the Boulaq Museum could no longer accommodate the ever-expanding number of objects. In response, the entire collection was transferred to the Ismail Pasha Palace in Giza, located on the grounds of the modern Giza Zoo.

The Need for a New Museum:

Unfortunately, the Ismail Pasha Palace was not ideal as a museum, especially for the display of monumental sculptures. The discovery of a cache of coffins and mummies of Amun priests and priestesses from the 21st dynasty in Bab el-Gusus at Deir el-Bahari the same year made it clear that the palace was neither secure nor large enough to house the hundreds of items regularly arriving from excavations. Moreover, the palace lacked space for laboratories, a library, and administrative offices, which hindered the establishment of a well-functioning institution.

In March 1893, the Ministry of Public Works met to discuss whether a new antiquities museum should be established or if the collections could simply be kept in the Ismail Pasha Palace with some renovations. Jacques de Morgan, the new director of the Antiquities Department (1892–1897), strongly urged the Egyptian government to build a new museum.

Between 1893 and 1895, shortly after the opening of the Ismail Pasha Palace Museum, an official committee from the Ministry of Public Works announced an international competition for the design of a new Egyptian Museum, offering a prize of 1,000 Egyptian pounds to the winner.

The museum was to be built in the city center, at Ismailia Square (modern Tahrir Square), between the Nile and the British Qasr el-Nil Barracks. A total of 87 proposals for the new building project were submitted, and the winning design in the neoclassical style was by French architect Marcel Dourgnon.

Construction and Opening:

The Marseilles sculptor Ferdinand Faivre was tasked with creating the two large statues that flank the main entrance, representing Upper and Lower Egypt. The foundation stone for the Egyptian Museum was laid on April 1, 1897, in the presence of Khedive Abbas Hilmy. On May 7, 1900, after three years of work, the first artifacts were placed in the display cases. The scientific direction and organization of the collection were overseen by Gaston Maspero.

The new museum covered an area of 15,000 square meters and cost approximately 240,000 Egyptian pounds at the time. On November 15, 1902, the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram announced the official opening of the Egyptian Museum.