Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid

Museum, Museums outside Egypt · also called MAN Madrid, National Archaeological Museum Madrid, Museo Arqueológico Nacional Egipto, Sala egipcia Museo Arqueológico

The Egyptian and Nubian rooms of Madrid's National Archaeological Museum are rich in written funerary objects: painted coffins of Amun's priests from Thebes, the gilded cartonnage of the priest Nespamedu, stelae, ushabtis and amulets. Most texts are names, titles and prayers for the dead.

Point your camera at the signs

Signs to look for

Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Bread on a mat (hotep) opens the offering formula on the stelae and coffins.
Seat Q1st The seat with the eye writes Osiris, judge of the dead on Amenemhat's coffin.
Eye D4ir The eye is the second sign of Osiris' name, after the seat.
Game board Y5mn The game board (men) sits in Amun's name in the titles of his priests and singers.
Seated god A40 A seated god often closes a god's name, as a sign telling you the word is divine.

The story of Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid

The collection runs from prehistory to Roman and medieval times and is mostly religious and funerary. Many objects come from systematic excavations, at Ehnasya el-Medina (ancient Herakleopolis) and at sites in Nubia. A Spanish mission has dug at Herakleopolis since 1966, led for decades by the museum's own curators.

Several coffins come from the Theban priesthood of Amun around 1000 BC. Egypt gave one of them to Spain in 1893, and it reached the museum soon after. It belonged to a priestess and musician of Amun, long called Ruru, a name some scholars now doubt. After seven months of restoration it went on show in the Egyptian rooms in 2024, for the first time in almost 120 years.

Nespamedu was a priest of Imhotep in the Ptolemaic period, buried at Saqqara. His mummy came to the museum as a gift in 1925. It is covered by five pieces of gilded cartonnage with inscriptions and gods of the afterlife, and a scan in 2016 found a diadem, bracelets, a collar and sandals under the wrappings.

Inscriptions to see

Coffin of the priest Amenemhat

An anthropoid wooden coffin from western Thebes, made around 1076–1050 BC, with the judgement before Osiris among its scenes. It was reused, and the first owner's name and titles were partly erased, so look for gaps where they stood. Often on display.

Coffin of the singer of Amun

A painted coffin of a woman who served Amun as priestess and musician. Her title, singer of Amun, contains the god's name, so look for Amun among the texts on the lid.

Cartonnage of Nespamedu

Gilded panels over a Ptolemaic mummy, with columns of text and gods of the afterlife. Check before you go, since mummies are sometimes moved or shown apart.

Stelae and ushabtis

Funerary stelae open with the offering formula, and ushabtis carry a short spell and their owner's name. Both are short enough to read whole.

Reading the hieroglyphs here

Coffin lids are read top down in columns. Start at the collar and follow one column at a time.
Glass cases reflect. Hold the camera close and at a slight angle to the glass, then tap a box to see its reading.
Objects rotate and travel on loan, so check before you go for a single coffin or mummy.

Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.

Questions

Does the Museo Arqueológico Nacional have Egyptian mummies?

Yes. Its Egyptian rooms show coffins and mummies, among them Nespamedu, a Ptolemaic priest of Imhotep from Saqqara.

Where is the Egyptian collection in Madrid?

The largest is at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional on Calle de Serrano, in the rooms of Egypt and Nubia. The Temple of Debod in the Parque del Oeste is the other place in Madrid to read hieroglyphs.

What hieroglyphs can I read on an Egyptian coffin?

Mostly the owner's name and titles, the offering formula and the names of the gods painted on it. Learn Osiris and the offering formula first, as they appear on almost every coffin.

Where it is

Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.