The Mummification Museum is an

archaeological museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological Types Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts inside buildings, such as Na ...

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

. It is dedicated to the art of Ancient Egyptian

mummification A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...

Location

The museum is located in the city of Luxor, the ancient Thebes. It stands on the

corniche A corniche is a road on the side of a cliff or mountain, with the ground rising on one side and falling away on the other. The word has been absorbed into English from the French term ' or "road on a ledge", originally derived from the Itali ...

in front of the Mina Palace Hotel, situated to the north of the

Luxor Temple The Luxor Temple ( ar, معبد الأقصر) is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE. In the Egyptian lang ...

overlooking the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

river.

Aim

The museum is intended to provide visitors with an understanding of the ancient art of mummification. The Ancient Egyptians applied

embalming Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them (in its modern form with chemicals) to forestall decomposition. This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for public or private viewing as part of the funeral ...

techniques to many species, not only to dead humans.

Mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...

cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

, fish and crocodiles are on display in this unique museum, where one can also get an idea of the tools used.

History

The story of this museum began when the Egyptian president decreed that the responsibility of the former visitor centre building was to be transferred from the tourism ministry to that of culture (and, specifically, the

Supreme Council of Antiquities The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...

). It was opened by President Hosni Mubarak in 1997.

Halls

The museum, located in the former visitor center, covers an area of 2035 m² and contains the following elements: *Hall of artifacts *Lecture hall *Video room *Cafeteria The hall of artifacts is divided into two parts, the first one is ascended corridor through which the visitor could have a look on ten tablets were drawn from the papyri of

Ani Ani ( hy, Անի; grc-gre, Ἄνιον, ''Ánion''; la, Abnicum; tr, Ani) is a ruined medieval Armenian city now situated in Turkey's province of Kars, next to the closed border with Armenia. Between 961 and 1045, it was the capital of th ...

and Hu-nefer that displayed in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London. Most of these tablets throw lights on the funeral journey from death to burial. The second part of the museum began from the end of the corridor and the visitor could see more than sixty pieces, which are displayed in 19 well-advanced cases. In those 19 display cases, the artefacts are concentrated on eleven topics: * Gods of ancient Egypt *Embalming materials *Organic materials *Embalming fluid *Tools of mummification *

Canopic jar Canopus (, ; grc-gre, Κάνωπος, ), also known as Canobus ( grc-gre, Κάνωβος, ), was an ancient Egyptian coastal town, located in the Nile Delta. Its site is in the eastern outskirts of modern-day Alexandria, around from the cente ...

s *

Ushabti The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from , which replaced earlier , perhaps the nisba of "' ...

s *

Amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...

s *Coffin of Padiamun *Mummy of

Masaharta Masaharta or Masaherta was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes between 1054 and 1045 BC. Biography His father was Pinedjem I, who was the Theban High Priest of Amun and de facto ruler of Upper Egypt from 1070 BC, then declared himself pharaoh in 10 ...

*Mummified animals

References

External links

Mummification Museum: First in the world
History museums in Egypt Luxor Archaeology of death Museums established in 1997 1997 establishments in Egypt {{Egypt-museum-stub

Location

Aim

History

Halls

See also

References

External links