The National Museum of Sudan or Sudan National Museum, abbreviated SNM, is a two-story building constructed in 1955 and established as a museum in 1971. The building and its surrounding gardens house the largest and most comprehensive

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

n archaeological collection in the world including objects from the Paleolithic through to the Islamic period originating from every site of importance in the Sudan. A significant catalyst for the museum's creation was the large number of relocated artefacts as a result of the

International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia The International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia was the relocation of 22 monuments in Lower Nubia, in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan, between 1960 and 1980. The success of the project, in particular the creation of a coalition of 50 ...

. In particular it houses collections of these periods of the

History of Sudan The history of Sudan refers to both the territory of the Republic of the Sudan, including what became in 2011 the independent state of South Sudan. The territory of Sudan is geographically part of a larger African region, also known by the ter ...

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymous ...

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

A-Group culture The A-Group culture was an ancient culture that flourished between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile in Nubia. It lasted from 3800 BC to 3100 BC. Overview In 1907, the Egyptologist George A. Reisner first discovered artifacts belongi ...

C-Group culture The C-Group culture is an archaeological culture found in Lower Nubia, which dates from ca. 2400 BCE to ca. 1550 BCE. It was named by George A. Reisner. With no central site and no written evidence about what these people called themselves, Reis ...

Kerma Culture The Kerma culture or Kerma kingdom was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "Upper Nubia" (in parts of present ...

Middle Kingdom of Egypt The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (also known as The Period of Reunification) is the period in the history of ancient Egypt following a period of political division known as the First Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom lasted from approximatel ...

New Kingdom of Egypt The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the sixteenth century BC and the eleventh century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties of Egypt. Radioca ...

Napata Napata (Old Egyptian ''Npt'', ''Npy''; Meroitic language, Meroitic ''Napa''; grc, Νάπατα and Ναπάται) was a city of ancient Kingdom of Kush, Kush at the fourth cataract of the Nile. It is located approximately 1.5 kilometers from ...

Meroë Meroë (; also spelled ''Meroe''; Meroitic: or ; ar, مرواه, translit=Meruwah and ar, مروي, translit=Meruwi, label=none; grc, Μερόη, translit=Meróē) was an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east ...

X-Group culture The X-Group Culture was an ancient civilization that existed from ca. 300 CE to ca. 600 CE. It was centered in Nubia stretching from the Dodekaschoinos in the north to Delgo, Sudan, Delgo in the south. George A. Reisner coined the term ''X-Group Cu ...

and medieval

Makuria Makuria (Old Nubian: , ''Dotawo''; gr, Μακουρία, Makouria; ar, المقرة, al-Muqurra) was a Nubian kingdom located in what is today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. Makuria originally covered the area along the Nile River from the ...

. The museum is located on the El Neel (Nile) Avenue in Khartoum in Al-Mugran area near the spot where the

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and the

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

Niles meet.

Collection

The objects of the museum are displayed in four areas: * The Main Hall on the ground floor * The gallery on the first floor * The Open Air Museum in the garden * The Monumental Alley outside the museum building

The ground floor

Key highlights of the collections include: * The Taharqo statue. A 4-meter high granite statue of Pharaoh

Taharqo Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo (Egyptian: 𓇿𓉔𓃭𓈎 ''tꜣ-h-rw-k'', Akkadian: ''Tar-qu-u2'', , Manetho's ''Tarakos'', Strabo's ''Tearco''), was a pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and qore (king) of the Kingdom of ...

, penultimate Pharaoh of the

25th dynasty The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of th ...

, facing the main entrance welcomes the visitors of the museum. The statue was broken by the Egyptians upon sacking Napata in 591 BCE under the reign of

Psamtik II Psamtik II ( Ancient Egyptian: , pronounced ), known by the Graeco-Romans as Psammetichus or Psammeticus, was a king of the Saite-based Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (595 BC – 589 BC). His prenomen, Nefer-Ib-Re, means "Beautiful s theHeart ...

, then buried in a pit by kushite priests and found by

George Reisner George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine. Biography Reisner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents were George Andrew Reisner I and Mary Elizabeth ...

in 1916. * Neolithic black-topped red burnished pottery and ram statuettes of the

. * Funerary artefacts and ceramic art dating from the Neolithic, A-group, C-Group, Kerma, and Kushite periods. * Stela of the ''chief of Teh-khet'' Amenemhat, found at

Debeira Debeira is an archaeological site in Sudan situated on the eastern bank of the Nile some 20 kilometres north of Wadi Halfa. Early period Excavations brought to light a necropolis of the C-Group culture.Jean Vercoutter, New Egyptian Inscriptions, ...

West *

and

artefacts from the area of the third cataract like Sai,

Soleb Soleb is an ancient town in Nubia, in present-day Sudan. The site is located north of the third cataract of the Nile, on the western side of the Nile. It was discovered and described by Karl Richard Lepsius in 1844. Necropolis Soleb is also t ...

Sedeinga The Sedeinga pyramids are a group of at least 80 small pyramids near Sedeinga, Sudan, built ca. 1 BCE. They were discovered between 2009 and 2012 and date to the time of the Kingdom of Kush, an ancient kingdom in Nubia. They range in size from a ...

and Kawa. * A bowlegged figurine of the dwarf goddess Beset with a plump body and strange facial features: She has a large flat nose and a wide mouth framed by a lion mane and round lion ears. Uncommon in Egyptian art, Beset is pictured frontally and full-faced rather than in profile. She appears grasping an undulating snake in her 3-digit left hand indicating to control hostile forces. She is the protector of mothers and new-born children. * The

and

periods of the

Kingdom of Kush The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian language, Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Akkadian language, Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, ce ...

including the 25th dynasty: Funerary material, a granite statue of king

Aspelta Aspelta was a ruler of the kingdom of Kush (c. 600 – c. 580 BCE). More is known about him and his reign than most of the rulers of Kush. He left several stelae carved with accounts of his reign. Family Aspelta was the son of Senkamanisken an ...

, the statue of an unknown Meroitic king represented as an archer and artefacts from its most representative sites like Meroe,

Musawwarat es-Sufra Musawwarat es-Sufra (Arabic: , Meroitic: Aborepi, Old Egyptian: jbrp, jpbr-ˁnḫ), also known as Al-Musawarat Al-Sufra, is a large Meroitic temple complex in modern Sudan, dating back to the early Meroitic period of the 3rd century BC. It is lo ...

and

Naqa Naqa or Naga'a ( ar, ٱلـنَّـقْـعَـة, An-Naqʿah) is a ruined ancient city of the Kushitic Kingdom of Meroë in modern-day Sudan. The ancient city lies about north-east of Khartoum, and about east of the Nile River located at appr ...

. File:Dipper National Museum Sudan.jpg,

jug with a beak in the shape of a hippopotamus head File:SNMSesotrisStelaUronarti.jpg, Stela of the ''chief of Teh-khet'', Amenemhat File:SNMBeset.jpg, Female Demon Beset File:BRONZE WITH GOLD STATUE FOR UNKNOWN CUSHIT KING-SUDAN NATIONAL MUSEUM.JPG, Bronze with gold statue of a Meroitic king as an archer File:Meroiticstaue.jpg, Beginning of CE sandstone-carved Meroitic statue raising its left arm

The first floor

* Wall paintings from the Christian

Faras Cathedral Faras Cathedral was a cathedral in the Lower Nubian city of Faras. It was the original seat of the Diocese of Faras. Nobadian rulers controlling the Nile Valley from the first to the third cataracts converted to Christianity around 548 AD infl ...

dated between the 9th and the 13th century, detached during the UNESCO Salvage Campaign. * The catalogue of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

inscriptions, produced primarily by the Christian culture of Nubia, was the scholarly contribution of Adam Lajtar from the

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

in respect of Greek inscriptions and Jacques Van der Vliet of the

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

in respect of Coptic inscriptions. The inscriptions contain Nubian funerary

epitaphs An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

. The sites of these inscriptions are from Nubian territory in Sudan extending from

Faras Faras (formerly grc, Παχώρας, ''Pakhôras''; la, Pachoras; Old Nubian: Ⲡⲁⲭⲱⲣⲁⲥ, ''Pakhoras'') was a major city in Lower Nubia. The site of the city, on the border between modern Egypt and Sudan at Wadi Halfa Salient, was f ...

in the north to

Soba Soba ( or , "buckwheat") is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat. The noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or hot in a noodle soup. The variety ''Nagano soba'' includes wheat flour. In Japan, soba noodles can be found i ...

in the south. The texts are inscribed on sandstone, marble or terracotta (36 inscriptions, mostly from

) plaques of generally rectangular shape. File:Sudan_Farras_fresco_of_cathedral_22dez2005.jpg, Fresco of Faras cathedral depicting the birth of Jesus. File:Nubian painting2.jpg, The story from Daniel and of the three youths thrown into the furnace.

The museum garden

Relocated temples

In the museum garden are some rebuilt temples and tombs relocated from the submerged area of

Lake Nasser Lake Nasser ( ar, بحيرة ناصر ', ) is a vast reservoir in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan. It is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Before construction, Sudan was against the building of Lake Nasser because it would encro ...

. In 1964, the

Aswan High Dam The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan Lo ...

, built across the Nile River in Egypt, created a reservoir in the Nubia area, which extended into Sudan's territory threatening to submerge the ancient temples. During the UNESCO Salvage Campaign the following temples and tombs were re-erected in the museum garden according to the same orientation of their original location surrounding an artificial strip of water symbolic of the Nile:Friedrich Hinkel, Dismantling and Removal of Endangered Monuments in Sudanese Nubia, in: Kush V Journal of the Sudan Antiquity Service, 1965 * Some remains of the temple of

Ramses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as t ...

of Aksha dedicated to

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

and to Ramses II himself. Preserved are a part of the Pylon with the Pharaoh worshipping the dynastic god Amun and some side-elements detailing submitted peoples. * The temple of

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut (; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: '' ḥꜣt- špswt'' "Foremost of Noble Ladies"; or Hatasu c. 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, aft ...

Buhen Buhen ( grc, Βοὥν ''Bohón'') was an ancient Egyptian settlement situated on the West bank of the Nile below (to the North of) the Second Cataract in what is now Northern State, Sudan. It is now submerged in Lake Nasser, Sudan; as a resul ...

dedicated to

Horus Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the P ...

. The falcon-headed Horus, the mythical ancestor of all Pharaohs, and Hatshepsut appearing as a king, never as a woman. * The temple of Kumma dedicated to the ram-headed

Khnum Khnum or also romanised Khnemu (; egy, 𓎸𓅱𓀭 ẖnmw, grc-koi, Χνοῦβις) was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt an ...

, the god of the

Nile cataracts The Cataracts of the Nile are shallow lengths (or whitewater rapids) of the Nile river, between Khartoum and Aswan, where the surface of the water is broken by many small boulders and stones jutting out of the river bed, as well as many rocky ...

. * The tomb of the Nubian prince Djehuti-hotep at

* The temple of

Semna The region of Semna is 15 miles south of Wadi Halfa and is situated where rocks cross the Nile narrowing its flow—the Semna Cataract. Semna was a fortified area established in the reign of Senusret I (1965–1920 BC) on the west bank of the N ...

dedicated to

Dedwen Dedun (or Dedwen) was a Nubian god worshipped during ancient times in ancient Egypt and Sudan and attested as early as 2400 BC. There is much uncertainty about his original nature, especially since he was depicted as a lion, a role which usuall ...

and the deified

Sesostris III Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the hellenised form, Sesostris III) was a pharaoh of Egypt. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity, and was the fifth king of the Twelfth Dynasty of the ...

. The sunk reliefs of this temple were carved over a large period hence the scenes are fragmented. * The granite columns from the Faras Cathedral File:SNMTempleAksha.jpg, The temple of Aksha:The Pharao worshipping Amun File:Buhen Temple (8625532719).jpg, The Buhen temple File:SNMTempleKumma.jpg, Temple of Kumma: The ram-headed Khnum (left) and Tuthmosis III (center) running towards

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...

(right) offering her a lapwing File:SNMTempleSemna.jpg, Temple of Semna: A New Kingdom graving shows an

effigy An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

of Sesostris III on a bark

Inscribed rocks

* Fragments of inscriptions of the submerged Nile-areas inserted onto fake rocks including a

Nilometer A nilometer was a structure for measuring the Nile River's clarity and water level during the annual flood season. There were three main types of nilometers, calibrated in Egyptian cubits: (1) a vertical column, (2) a corridor stairway of steps l ...

with the name of queen

Sobekneferu , image = File:Statue of Sobekneferu (Berlin Egyptian Museum 14475).jpg , image_alt = Partially defaced bust of a female , caption = Statue of Sobekneferu , reign = 3 years, 10 months, and 24 days according to the Turin Canon in the mid 18th ...

. * At the banks of the water strip two Meroitic frog statues 60 cm in height from

Basa Basa may refer to: Agreements * Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, between National Aviation Authority regulators People * Basa (surname) * Bassa people (Cameroon), also spelled Basa, an ethnic group * Basa, leader and namesake of the Basing ...

representing the water-goddess Heket, as well as Beset the protector of pregnant women and newborn babies. Statue National Museum Sudan

The Tabo colossi

Outside the museum building are set up two granite unfinished colossi from Tabo of the Argo Island. Due to missing inscriptions they cannot be assigned to any person but they have Roman influence.

The Monumental Alley

The lane leading from the museum car parking to the exhibition halls is flanked with meroitic statues of 2 rams and 6 dark sandstone men-eating lions. The lions are from the first century BCE, as shown by the two

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

s from king

Amanikhabale Amanikhabale (also transliterated Astabarqaman) was a King of Kush Kush or Cush may refer to: Bible * Cush (Bible), two people and one or more places in the Hebrew Bible Places * Kush (mountain), a mountain near Kalat, Pakistan Balochistan * ...

engraved on the first lion on the right. As well as the frogs the lions were brought from Basa and represent the warlike lion-god

Apedemak Apedemak or Apademak was a major deity in the Ancient Nubian Pantheon. Often depicted as a figure with a male human torso and a lion head, Apedemak was a war god worshiped by the Kingdom of Kush#Move to Meroë, Meroitic peoples inhabiting Nubia. ...

. File:SNMFrog.jpg, File:SNMMenEatingLion.jpg,

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Khartoum Museums in Sudan

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

Archaeological museums Museums established in 1971 Buildings and structures completed in 1955 History of Nubia 1955 establishments in Sudan