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The Museo Egizio in Turin: inscriptions to read

13 November 2026

Turin's Museo Egizio opened in 1824 on the collection of Bernardino Drovetti, and Champollion came to study it the same year. For a reader of hieroglyphs it holds a seated Ramesses II with his names intact, a whole rock chapel of Thutmose III, the Turin King List and the grave goods of Kha and Merit, beside a Roman bronze covered in imitation hieroglyphs.

From 23 November 2026 a new immersive room in the museum's basement takes visitors on a journey along the banks of the Nile, with the colours and sounds of Egypt.

Ramesses II sits with Nefertari at his side

The granodiorite statue Cat. 1380 comes from the temple of Amun at Karnak. Ramesses wears the blue crown and holds the crook (), the heqa sceptre of rule. His feet rest on the Nine Bows, Egypt's enemies. Small figures of his queen Nefertari and his son Amunherkhepeshef stand on either side. Many kings carved their names over older statues, but the museum notes that this inscription shows no sign of reworking. Champollion, writing from Turin in 1824, called it the Egyptian Apollo Belvedere.

Look for his two cartouches. The throne name Usermaatre Setepenre starts with the sun (), then the head of a canine () for wsr, "strong", and the goddess Maat (). The adze () spells stp, "chosen", and the ripple of water () n.

Crook Sun Head and neck of a canine Goddess Maat Adze Ripple of water

Learn both of Ramesses II's names

Thutmose III cut the Ellesiya chapel into a Nubian cliff

The rock chapel of Ellesiya was carved for Thutmose III of the 18th Dynasty near Qasr Ibrim in Nubia. Its gods include Horus of Miam and the goddess Satet. Under Akhenaten parts of its decoration were chiselled away, and Ramesses II later restored it and remodelled the niche at the back.

When the Aswan High Dam was about to flood Nubia, Egypt gave the chapel to Italy as thanks for its help in saving the Nubian temples. It reached Turin in the late 1960s, cut into 66 blocks, and was put back together and shown in 1970. Since 20 November 2024 it has been open free of charge, through its own entrance on Via Duse.

Plan a look at the Ellesiya chapel

The Turin King List names over 200 kings

Papyrus 1874 is a list of rulers written in hieratic, the joined-up hand of scribes, on the back of a tax register from the reign of Ramesses II. It begins with gods and spirits and then runs through the kings of the 1st to the 17th Dynasties, each with the length of his reign. Its start and end are lost.

Drovetti bought it at Thebes around 1818. When the crate was opened in Turin it had crumbled into small pieces, and about half is still missing. Champollion recognised some royal names among the fragments. The German scholar Gustav Seyffarth then pieced it together by matching the fibres of the papyrus. Papyri are shown in turns to protect them, so check before you go if you want to see it.

Compare the Abydos King List

Kha and Merit's tomb arrived almost untouched

Ernesto Schiaparelli's team found the tomb of Kha and his wife Merit at Deir el-Medina on 15 February 1906. Nobody had robbed it, so their coffins, furniture, clothes and food came to Turin together.

For the 120th anniversary in 2026 the Louvre lent the small stone pyramidion that once crowned Kha's tomb chapel and carries his name. It is due to stay in room 7 until February 2027.

Read about Deir el-Medina

The Mensa Isiaca only looks like writing

The Mensa Isiaca, Cat. 7155, is a bronze table top about 125 by 75 cm, inlaid with silver and other metals, with Isis enthroned in the middle. It was most probably made in Rome in the second half of the 1st century AD, perhaps for a temple of Isis there. Cardinal Pietro Bembo bought it after the sack of Rome in 1527, and the Gonzaga of Mantua owned it until the city fell in 1630. Its arrival in Turin is counted as the start of the museum's collection.

Its "hieroglyphs" are imitations by an artist who could not read them, placed as ornament. In 1652 the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher used it as a main source for his translations of Egyptian writing. Those readings were wrong, and later occult writers went on repeating them.

Light from one side brings carving out

Carved signs read best when light falls across them. In a gallery lit from above, step to one side or crouch so the shadows of the cuts show. Sunk relief, cut into the surface as on many royal statues, catches the light along its edges.

The camera on this site reads signs from a photo. Fill the frame with a single column of signs, and trace a sign by hand where the photo is not sure.

Read a sign with the camera

Questions

Is the Turin King List on display?

It is shown in turns, like the museum's other fragile papyri, and rests in storage between showings. The museum's website says what is on show.

Can you see the Ellesiya chapel for free?

Yes. Since November 2024 the chapel has had its own free entrance on Via Duse, apart from the paid museum.

What is the new immersive room at the Museo Egizio?

A room in the basement that opens on 23 November 2026, with a journey along the Nile told in pictures and sound. Its content will change over time, and guided visits are planned.

Did Champollion work in Turin?

Yes. He came in 1824 to study the newly bought Drovetti collection wrote from Turin about the seated Ramesses II, and drew the royal names he could make out among the fragments of the king list.

Glossary

cartouche: An oval ring drawn around a royal name, a loop of rope tied at one end. Kings wrote their two main names in cartouches.
coffin: A box for the body, of wood or stone, often shaped like a person and painted with spells, names and gods. Rich burials nested several coffins inside a sarcophagus.
dynasty: A line of kings counted together, usually one family. Egyptologists number Egypt's kings in about 30 dynasties, following the priest Manetho.
hieratic: A quick, rounded script made from hieroglyphs and written with a reed brush on papyrus. Scribes used it for letters, accounts and stories.
hieroglyphs: The picture signs of ancient Egyptian writing, used from about 3200 BC to AD 394. A sign can stand for sounds, for a whole word, or for the kind of thing a word means.
Maat: Truth, justice and the right order of the world, shown as a goddess with an ostrich feather on her head. Kings claimed to uphold it.
papyrus: A writing sheet made from strips of the papyrus reed laid in two crossing layers and pressed. Sheets were glued into long rolls.
relief: A carving on a flat surface. In raised relief the background is cut away. In sunk relief the figures are cut into the stone.
scribe: A person trained to read and write, who kept accounts, wrote letters and copied texts. Few Egyptians could write, and scribes were well respected.
temple: The house of a god, where priests served the god's statue. Temples for dead kings kept up their offerings after death.
throne name: The name a king took when he came to the throne, written in the first cartouche after the title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt". Egyptologists also call it the prenomen.
tomb: A burial place: a pit, a mastaba, a pyramid or rooms cut into rock. Its chapel was where the family brought offerings.

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Where to see it

Museo Egizio, Turin museum
Temple of Ellesyia, Museo Egizio monument
Karnak Temple site
Deir el-Medina site