Egypt is famous for its 34 museums which are divided in to national, local, contemporary and site categories. The Egyptian museum is the national museum. It has huge collection of antiquities. There are almost 120,000 ancient Egyptian antiquities in this museum. The National Museums have collections of specific period of the Ancient Egypt. El Mathas El Massry was in hands of Mohamed Ali in the year 1834 and he also ordered the construction of first museum in Al-Azbaquia. Then in the year 1858 August Mariette took over the charge of El Mathas El Massry and he also built museum in Bulaq which opened in 1863.
The Museum has a Royal Mummy Room in which there are 27 royal mummies which are of pharaonic times and were closed in the year 1981 by the orders from the president Anwar Sadat. But when the new kingdom came into action in the year 1985, they opened the mummy room and started displaying 9 mummies and Queen of Hatshepsut was the new found mummy. In the main museum in the Egypt which contains the major antiquities and important pieces of Egypt. The museum has many treasures of King Tutankhamen. It was built in the year 1835 near Ezbekeyah Gardens because of lack of space it moved to Boulaq in 1858. The responsibility of new museum was given to Duke Maximilian of Austria and he hired a French architect to design the new building and it was constructed near Nile River in Boulaq. In the year 1878 a flood in the Nile River caused damage and for this reason the government relocated it in Giza.
The museum has two floors. The ground floor has wide ranging collection of papyrus and coins used in old kingdom. These pieces of papyrus are getting fragmented because they are very decayed from even more than past two million years. Ancient Egyptian language, Greek, Latin and Arabic are crafted on these pieces. These coins are made of gold silver and bronze. These Greek, Roman and Islamic coins give information about Ancient Egyptian trade. Artifacts from New Kingdom from 1550 and 1070 BC are also located on ground floor which includes tables, coffins and statues. Taking a view of first floor the artifacts from final two dynasties including tombs of the Pharaohs are located. In the year 2001 UNESCO announced and sponsored a international competition at the Grand Egyptian Museum on the north side of Giza pyramids plateau.
The Museum is located in Cairo it is the capital of Egypt and one of the largest city in Africa. Cairo means “the Victorious City” and it is surrounded by the Nile River and Settled from more than 6000 years. The Arabic name of Egypt is Misr. The north eastern part of Cairo is known as Kaliobia Governorate and the west bank is a part of governorate of Giza while east and south east parts are in the hands of Cairo governorate. Cairo city is a mixture of traditions and culture from east and west, ancient and modern.
How to Travel
The main railway link is between Aswan and points north in the Nile Valley to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. It has approx 8600km of railroads and 1600km of shipping canals and more then 17,700km of irrigation canals in the Nile delta and used for transportations. Suez Canal is the major port used by many shipping companies and it was closed from 1967 to mid 1975 and provides high revenues to the country. Most of the Egypt is desert area therefore camel caravans are employed to the higher extent in Egypt. There are two major highways which connect Cairo with Alexandria and other highways which connect Cairo to Port said, Suez and Al Fayoum and lengths about 38,000km. However the air route is very cheap and easy there are international airlines which provide regular services between Cairo and Alexandria and major world centers. Egypt has almost 80 airfields and the government owned airline Egypt Air provides regular domestic and foreign services. Bus services are also easily available in Egypt. Trains in Egypt are also of good frequency with both seated and sleeper services.
Maintain your health during the trip by avoid drinking tap water. Necessary steps should be taken while tour the safety of food should be your concern. Incase of health problems hospital care and doctors are available. If you are used to the local drinking water than there is not much to think on it. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables are advised, it may take sometime to adjust with the local surroundings if you are planning to live for long time in the country of pyramids.
Where to stay
Hotels in Cairo vary from 5 stars to 1 star. You have to take care of getting misunderstood as many 3 star hotels perceive as 4 star. However every 5 star hotel in Cairo has its own identity. The hotel industry in Cairo is boomed in the past few years. You will find a variety of hotels in the town side of Cairo. Bookings should be made earlier to the hotels. The Arab tourists visit Cairo in summer so advance bookings to hotels will be a good idea. It is advisable to visit Cairo in winter.
If you are planning to choose Nile Cruise make sure it will include everything from accommodation to transportation. This is best option if you want to visit temples. There are three types of packages available with the Nile Cruise. Nile Cruise gives you a very good experience to visit Cairo. There are many types of tour packages available to visit Cairo. Visit to Cairo gives you a very good experience of tombs, pyramids, museums and so on. There are some cities in Egypt which should be avoid these are the centers of Nile Valley. Many Islamic fundamentalists attack tourist in order to destroy the tourist industry in Egypt.
Rejoice Egypt with a blend of cruises, antiquities, pyramids, and much more. Explore Cairo with the El Mathas El Massry and know the history of kings and queens of different dynasties in Egypt. This will help you to know the olden times of the country of deserts.
