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Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, Munich
Museum, Museums outside Egypt · also called Egyptian Museum Munich, State Museum of Egyptian Art, SMÄK, Ägyptisches Museum München
Munich's State Museum of Egyptian Art has the block statue of Bakenkhons, high priest of Amun under Ramesses II, with the story of his career carved on its back pillar. The gilded coffin of Queen Satdjehuti and the statue of Netia and his mother Mutnofret add names you can read sign by sign.
Point your camera at the signs
Signs to look for
- Game board Y5mn The game board (mn) writes Amun, the god Bakenkhons served, in almost every line of his text.
- Ibis on a standard G26ḏḥwty The ibis on a standard is Thoth, Djehuti, in Satdjehuti's name: daughter of Thoth.
- Pintail duck G39zꜣ The duck (sa) writes daughter or son, at the start of Satdjehuti's name.
- Three fox skins F31ms Three fox skins (ms) are in the name Ramesses, the king Bakenkhons served as high priest.
- Sun N5rꜥ The sun disc is Ra, the first sign of Ramesses' cartouche.
Names you can find here
The story of Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, Munich
Bavaria's dukes and kings collected Egyptian art from the sixteenth century on, Ludwig I most of all. Since 2013 the collection has been in a new building in the Kunstareal, opposite the Alte Pinakothek, designed by Peter Böhm and built largely underground. Big halls with sculpture lead to darker theme rooms on the pharaoh, religion and the afterlife.
Bakenkhons began in the stables of Seti I and rose through the priesthood of Amun to its head under Ramesses II. His statue was probably found at Karnak and was bought in Rome for Ludwig I in 1828. Its long text is one of the main sources for a priest's career in the New Kingdom. Scholars still argue over whether the statue was carved for him or reused from the time of Amenhotep III.
Satdjehuti was a queen of the 17th Dynasty, probably a wife of Seqenenre Tao. Her coffin lid in Munich is of gilded wood. Her face mask from the same burial is in the British Museum.
Inscriptions to see
Block statue of Bakenkhons
Limestone, about 1.4 metres high. He sits with his knees drawn up and his career runs in columns on the back pillar. The excavator Rifaud carved his own note, dated 1818, on the left foot.
Coffin lid of Satdjehuti
Gilded sycamore wood. Coffins of this time usually carry a column of text down the middle with the owner's name.
Netia and his mother Mutnofret
A seated pair of the 19th Dynasty. He was a wab priest and doorkeeper of Amun who hears prayers, and she was a singer of Amun.
Double statue of Nyuserre
A calcite statue of this 5th Dynasty king shown twice, young and old, side by side.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- The theme rooms are dark, with spotlights on single objects. Use the light on the object and keep the phone steady.
- Walk round the block statue to the back pillar: that is where Bakenkhons tells his career.
- Pieces go on loan, as Netia and Mutnofret did in 2026. Check before you go if you come for one object.
Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.
Questions
Where is the Egyptian museum in Munich?
In the Kunstareal in Maxvorstadt, at Gabelsbergerstraße 35, opposite the Alte Pinakothek. It moved there from the Residenz in 2013.
Who was Bakenkhons?
A high priest of Amun at Karnak under Ramesses II. His statue in Munich records how he rose from the stables of Seti I to head Amun's priesthood and supervised the king's building work at Karnak.
Why is the Munich Egyptian museum underground?
The architect Peter Böhm set it below ground to recall the descent into an Egyptian tomb. From the street you see mainly its tall entrance portal.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.