Egypt Travelogue - al-Qāhirah III

THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM IN CAIRO 

Click by Danish Henry

 

Click by Manthan Mehta

The Egyptian Museum is housed is an orange-colored edifice where ancient Egypt is concentrated and giant statues stand to welcome you. It speaks volumes of how ancient Egyptian Kings constructed their immorality in stones. 

Click by Danish Henry

The Egyptian Museum is bottomless pit of knowledge where one can spend hours and still be left with some sections to go through. One section whose mention is essential is the mummy room. The mummy room is a large black-tiled room with transparent boxes for the scary mummies. Seeing dead bodies that are more than 2500 years old is an unexplainable experience. Our guide tells us that not only were humans mummified, animals were also, as evident from animal mummy room with their canopic jars. Canopic jars are vase-like structures which we would use for decorating garish-coloured plastic flowers.

Participants of the 19th AIMSC 2011.

The boy king Tutankhamun’s section is yet another attraction. The perfected-to-precision face mask of the king is 11.5 kilograms of pure gold. This sections has personal belongings of the King (including a beautiful scarab), the tombs items especially the gold sarcophaguses. Our guide, carrying the Egyptian flag, tell us that mummy of King Tutankhamun was damaged by it’s very own discoverer, in an attempt to remove the gold mask from the mummy’s face.

On exiting the museum, one is opened to L-shaped shop selling Egyptians books, souvenirs, alabaster statues, clothing items among others.

EL TAHRIR SQUARE

Close is the charred building of the National Democratic Party, set ablaze during the Egyptian uprising (February 2011). At a walking distance is the epicenter of the Egyptian uprising of 2011 - El Tahrir Square/Liberation Square in Downtown Cairo. 

The square is a busy piece of land ever plied by roaring vehicles of all shapes and sizes, and recently by the ordinary Egyptian who simply believed in the promise the country has to offer. The square has a gray statue of national hero Omar Makram and close by is the headquarters of the Arab league.