Mummification Museum

The museum is small and single-minded: it explains how Egyptian mummification actually worked, step by step, using the objects rather than panels alone. There are the bronze hooks and knives, the natron used to dry the body, the resins and oils, the linen, the canopic jars for the organs and the amulets placed in the wrappings, along with a well-preserved mummy of a Twenty-First Dynasty priest and a series of animal mummies including a crocodile, cats, a ram and birds, each explaining a different reason animals were embalmed. It is set below the corniche in a low building with a view over the river, and it takes about an hour, which makes it a good complement to the temples rather than a rival to them.

History

The museum, devoted to the ancient Egyptian art of mummification, occupies a building that was first a visitor centre; responsibility for it passed by presidential decree from the tourism ministry to the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and it opened as a museum in 1997 (Wikipedia, Mummification Museum).

Highlights

• Embalming tools - hooks, knives and the working kit of the process.
• Natron, resins and linen - the materials laid out in sequence.
• Canopic jars and amulets - what went with the body into the wrappings.
• Animal mummies - crocodile, cats, ram and birds, each for a different purpose.

When to go

October to April. Late afternoon or evening when it stays open and the corniche is pleasant. One hour. It is rarely crowded and works well as a break between temple visits.

Good to know

It is genuinely small and the ticket price is high for the size. Some visitors find the subject matter grim, particularly the animal section. Lighting is dim in places. There is little here that a good book would not cover.

Nearby

Luxor Temple is a short walk south; Luxor Museum is north along the corniche.

Key facts