The Cairo Museum

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The artifacts at the Cairo Museum represent the best that ancient Egypt has to offer, including fabulous statues, jewels of glittering gold and precious stones, miles of inscribed and decorated reliefs, the coffins and sarcophagi and mummies of kings, pottery spanning the ages, and countless pieces that are classified as “minor objects” but that are far from unimportant. Exploring the museum properly takes weeks—it is an unparalleled treasury of aesthetic pleasures and scholarly satisfaction, and thousands of tourists visit it each day.

Opened in 1902, the museum celebrated its 100th birthday two years ago, not long after I was named secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. As secretary-general, I was responsible for helping to oversee the museum’s centenary festivities, which included fireworks and a laser show. Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, and Farouk Hosni, the country’s minister of culture, gave speeches, and scholars from all over the world talked about the museum’s collections. Everyone dressed in period clothes; music from a hundred years ago was played. The entire western courtyard of the museum was cleaned and renovated, with a huge tent erected to house the celebration.

As part of these festivities, we brought together 250 objects that were lying neglected in the basement of the museum; on display at the museum but overlooked by most tourists; or stored in locations scattered around Egypt, where they had been seen by no one but their excavators. Everyone was amazed that we were able to pull these 042pieces together, especially since we had only a few weeks to do so; I nicknamed the project “Mission Impossible.” I was on my cell phone constantly, helping with logistical problems, keeping in touch with worried committee members, encouraging the movers and the inspectors, and reassuring archaeologists who were worried about the safety of their finds. But we discovered many wonderful things, both within the museum and without. A number of these are now displayed in special galleries in the basement of the museum as a new exhibit, “Hidden Treasures of the Egyptian Museum.”

What follows is only a tiny sampling of the museum’s vast and rich collection of objects. Working with these works of art has opened my eyes to the tales that artifacts have to tell, from stories about the men and women who made and used them to the adventures of the archaeologists who dedicated their lives to finding them. The story of Egyptian archaeology is complex and rich, a fascinating tale set against a backdrop of the slow decline of colonialism and the struggle of modern Egyptians to reclaim pride in and control of their own ancient heritage.

From the book Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Unearthing the Masterpieces of Egyptian History by Zahi Hawass. Text copyright ©2004 Zahi Hawass. Photos copyright ©2004 Kenneth Garrett. Reprinted with permission of the National Geographic Society.

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Kneeling Servant

Limestone, Dahshur, c. 2600 B.C.

Among the finds in the so-called Bent Pyramid of the 4th Dynasty pharaoh Sneferu is this sculpture of a servant, grinding grain in order to make flour. Though the figure’s pose is servile, the sculpture itself is imposing, stretching to about 6 feet. It recalls images from the walls of Egyptian tomb chapels in which people are engaged in a variety of routine tasks, such as the making of bread and the brewing of beer.

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Statue of Bes

Limestone, Bahariya, Greco-Roman Period, 332–30 B.C.

The desert oasis called Bahariya, located 124 miles west of the Nile River, was a trading center in antiquity known especially for its production of wine. In 1988, after a villager brought a basalt fragment to the attention of the local authorities, archaeologists began excavating a mound at Bahariya, and discovered the ruins of a temple dedicated to the god Bes. This nearly 5-foot-tall cult statue of the deity was found lying on the floor of the temple’s main hall.

Naked but for a belt and a lion’s skin draped on his back, with his beard resembling a lion’s mane and his upper teeth threateningly bared, Bes was hideous enough to ward off evil spirits. But he also was thought of as a beneficent deity, a protector of families and especially pregnant women. He is almost always shown with a fat belly and a plumed headdress.

Jar Lid with Young Bird

Calcite, wood and ivory, Tomb of Tutankhamun, c. 1330 B.C.

Appearing to emerge from a hatched egg, this charming little bird sits atop a lid that might once have crowned a perfume jar. The lid consists of a flat disk, 5 inches in diameter, attached to a saucer resembling a nest. Four eggs made of calcite are placed inside this nest. The fledgling is carved from wood and painted brown and black. Its pink tongue is made of ivory.

The lid was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, maybe the best preserved of all the Egyptian royal tombs. Tutankhamun ascended the throne as a child, perhaps as early as the age of eight, and died before he was 20. What better object to accompany the pharaoh in the afterlife—and to guarantee his rebirth—than a lid symbolizing renewal and fertility? The bird is shown at the beginning of its life, its beak open as if to draw its first breath, its wings outstretched and ready for flight.

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Woman with Sistrum

Limestone, Saqqara, c. 1300 B.C.

This exquisitely carved relief fragment, about 10 inches tall and 7 inches wide, was found at Saqqara, the main necropolis of ancient Memphis. Probably depicting a priestess, the relief came from the Serapeum, the building associated with the cult of the sacred animal called the Apis bull. The priestess holds a sistrum—an ancient percussion instrument that rattled when shaken—decorated with the head of the bovine goddess Hathor. A necklace called a menat, associated with religious rituals and symbolic of fertility, adorns the priestess’s neck.

The fragment, discovered by archaeologist M. Ibrahim Aly during his excavations of the Serapeum in 1986, was once part of a larger scene. Its combination of low and high relief, not to mention the sensuous style, is typical of artwork from the end of the 18th Dynasty (1550–1295 B.C.).

Pendant with Tutankhamun’s Name

Gold and semiprecious stones, Tomb of Tutankhamun, c. 1330 B.C.

Found in a splendid domed chest in Tutankhamun’s tomb was this pendant, about 3.5 by 4 inches in size. It cleverly and metaphorically conveys the king’s throne name (or prenomen), which was Nebkheperue. A winged scarab beetle dominates the center of the pendant; in hieroglyphics, the scarab beetle stands for the word kheper, meaning “to happen” and “to become.” (The god Khepri, most often pictured as a scarab beetle, was associated with creation, resurrection and the sun-god Ra.) In hieroglyphics, the three strokes below the beetle signify the pluralization of the word kheper. The basket underneath these three strokes is the sign for neb, meaning “Lord.”

Tutankhamun had been relatively unknown until Howard Carter famously discovered his tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. During the ten years following Carter’s first stunning discoveries, some 5,000 artifacts were uncovered, including jewelry, weapons, statues, furniture and model boats.

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Headrest of Tutankhamun

Ivory, Tomb of Tutankhamun, c. 1330 B.C.

The god Bes adorns this folding headrest found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. Standing about 7 inches high, with its legs carved in the shape of ducks’ heads, the headrest might have been used by Tutankhamun during hunting trips in the desert; the image of Bes would have protected him while he slept, warding off any evil spirits lurking nearby. Howard Carter found the object during his excavations of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the 1920s. Carter, who had a rocky relationship with Egyptian officials, had initially laid claim to 50 percent of the artifacts he found in the tomb. The government, however, insisted that all finds remain in Egypt, a condition to which Carter eventually agreed. And yet, local officials found the headrest in one of the tomb’s corridors—suspiciously wrapped and packed up in a crate.

Statue of Hetepdief

Granite, provenance unknown, c. 2650 B.C.

This statue of a priest named Hetepdief appears to capture a moment of deep contemplation. His right shoulder is inscribed with hieroglyphic markings called serekhs—thought to represent the facades of the first royal palaces of Egypt. Inscribed inside each rectangular frame is the name of a different king from the 2nd Dynasty (c. 2890–2686 B.C.): Hotepsekhemwy, Raneb and Nynetjer. (Hetepdief is thought to have been a priest associated with the cults of these kings.) Above the frames are symbols of the falcon-god Horus. Though the statue, some 15 inches tall, has been dated on stylistic grounds to around 2650 B.C., nobody knows exactly where it came from or who discovered it. The statue was brought to the Cairo Museum in the 19th century, and remained unpublished for decades.

The artifacts at the Cairo Museum represent the best that ancient Egypt has to offer, including fabulous statues, jewels of glittering gold and precious stones, miles of inscribed and decorated reliefs, the coffins and sarcophagi and mummies of kings, pottery spanning the ages, and countless pieces that are classified as “minor objects” but that are far from unimportant. Exploring the museum properly takes weeks—it is an unparalleled treasury of aesthetic pleasures and scholarly satisfaction, and thousands of tourists visit it each day. Opened in 1902, the museum celebrated its 100th birthday two years ago, not long after I […]