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Museo Egizio, Turin
Museum, Museums outside Egypt · also called Egyptian Museum of Turin, Turin Egyptian Museum, Museo Egizio Torino
Turin's Egyptian Museum is one of the great collections of written Egypt: carved statues of kings, a whole rock temple of Thutmose III, the intact tomb goods of Kha and Merit, and papyri like the Turin King List.
The museum opened in 1824, when the King of Sardinia bought the collection of Bernardino Drovetti. Champollion came to study it soon after and found papyri no one had read. Excavations under Ernesto Schiaparelli in the early twentieth century added whole tombs from Deir el-Medina and Gebelein.
For hieroglyph readers the papyri are the treasure. Turin holds a vast archive from Deir el-Medina, the village of the royal tomb builders, mostly in hieratic, the joined script used with pen and ink. Next to a carved statue, a hieratic line shows how the same signs were written fast.
The museum was rearranged for its bicentenary in 2024, so rooms and routes may differ from older guides. Papyri are fragile and rest in storage between showings, and some objects travel on loan, so check before you go for a particular object.
Inscriptions to see
Statue of Ramesses II
A black granite seated king in the Statuary gallery, among the finest portraits of him. His cartouches are carved on the throne.
Temple of Ellesyia
A small rock temple cut in Nubia under Thutmose III and given to Italy after the Aswan dam rescue. Inside, carved scenes show the king before gods, with his cartouches.
Tomb of Kha and Merit
The intact burial of an architect and his wife, found in 1906. His painted Book of the Dead and their coffins carry their names in many places.
Turin King List
A hieratic papyrus that listed every ruler of Egypt with reign lengths. It survives in many fragments and is shown when conditions allow.
Turin Papyrus Map
A Ramesside map of a desert road and mines, with labels in hieratic.
Names you can find here
Signs to look for
- Head and neck of a canine F12wsr The head of a canine (user) opens Usermaatre, the throne name of Ramesses II on his statue.
- Adze U21stp The adze (setep) writes 'chosen' in the same cartouche, 'chosen of Ra'.
- Scarab beetle L1ḫpr The scarab (kheper) is in Menkheperre, the throne name of Thutmose III at Ellesyia.
- Game board Y5mn The game board (men) opens Menkheperre in the Ellesyia cartouches.
- Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Bread on a mat (hotep) opens the offering formula on the coffins of Kha and Merit.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- The Statuary gallery is dark with spotlights. Photograph from below the light and trace any shadowed sign.
- In the papyrus rooms, compare a hieratic line with a carved one. Many hieratic signs are quick versions of the same pictures.
- Allow most of a day.
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 the Turin Egyptian Museum worth visiting?
Yes. It holds one of the largest Egyptian collections outside Egypt, rich in inscribed statues, coffins and papyri.
What is the Turin King List?
A Ramesside papyrus in hieratic that once listed every king of Egypt with the length of his reign. It is broken into many pieces and is still a key source for royal history.
Is there a whole temple in the Museo Egizio?
Yes. The rock temple of Ellesyia, built by Thutmose III in Nubia, was moved to Turin in the 1960s.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.