Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Museum, Cairo and Giza · also called Cairo Museum, Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Tahrir Museum, Egyptian Museum Tahrir Square
The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square holds some of the most important inscribed objects in Egypt, from the Narmer Palette, with one of the first royal names, to the Merneptah Stela, with the first mention of Israel. You can follow the script here from its beginnings to long New Kingdom texts.
The museum opened in 1902 and still fills two floors with statues, stelae, coffins and jewellery, much of it covered in hieroglyphs. Labels are brief and often skip the names and titles carved on an object. Know a few signs and you can read them yourself, case after case.
Start on the ground floor and walk forward in time. The earliest royal names stand alone in a palace-façade frame, the serekh. Old Kingdom statues add titles and offering formulas in neat columns on bases and back pillars, and the New Kingdom stelae end the walk with dozens of carved lines under a rounded scene.
Inscriptions to see
Narmer Palette
A carved palette from Hierakonpolis, c. 3100 BC. At the top his name, a catfish and a chisel, sits inside a serekh. Small signs beside the figures label people and places.
Statue of Khafre
The seated king from his valley temple at Giza, with the Horus falcon behind his head. His names are carved on the throne beside his legs.
Rahotep and Nofret
Painted statues from Meidum, from the time of Sneferu. Their names and titles are painted in columns beside their heads.
Merneptah Stela
A granite stela of Merneptah, c. 1208 BC, with the oldest known mention of Israel in Egyptian. Israel is written with the signs for a people, while the towns beside it get the sign for a foreign land.
Tanis royal treasures
The gold mask and silver coffin of Psusennes I, upstairs if on display when you visit. His cartouche means 'the star that appears in the city'.
Names you can find here
Signs to look for
- Sun rising over a hill N28ḫꜥ The rising sun (kha) opens Khafre's name on the throne of his statue.
- Heart and windpipe F35nfr The heart and windpipe (nefer) starts Nofret's name beside her head.
- Throw stick T14 On the Merneptah Stela the throw stick marks Israel as a foreign people.
- Three hills N25ḫꜣst The three hills mark the foreign lands listed on the Merneptah Stela.
- Star N14sbꜣ The star (seba) is in the name of Psusennes I on his Tanis mask and coffin.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- Hold your phone close to the glass at a slight angle to cut reflections.
- Statues often carry their texts on the back pillar or throne sides: walk all the way around.
- On worn carving in dim galleries, trace the sign over your photo for a better reading.
Point your camera at a wall Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.
Questions
Is Tutankhamun's mask still in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo?
No. His mask, coffins and shrines are now at the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza.
Are the royal mummies in the Egyptian Museum?
No. They moved to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat in April 2021, in the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.
Where is the Merneptah Stela?
In the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square. It holds the earliest known mention of Israel in an Egyptian text.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.