Encapsulated in this museum in the heart of Cairo is the story of Egypt from 5000 BC as depicted in frescos, tomb paintings, or on papyrus and displayed in sculptures, jewellery and great treasures of gold. The Egyptians got their gold from what we know as Sudan, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. Their goldsmiths' skills advanced rapidly; they understood fire assaying to test the purity of gold, the art of alloying it with other metals for colour variations, casting and the lost-wax technique, which is still the secret of much jewellery manufacture. Tomb paintings show them smelting the metal in crucibles over a fire. An important symbol was the gold stamp seal, often in the form of the scarab (a tiny beetle) mounted on a gold ring. For early Egyptians, such jewellery was often related to divinity and may have been made primarily to be buried with the dead, although later more elaborate jewellery became a symbol of wealth for the living. The jewellery on display reveals that the Egyptians used colour in their designs, contrasting gold with lapis lazuli and other coloured stones. This is perfectly illustrated by a pectoral of a vulture goddess in gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian and green glass from the tomb of Tutankhamun, the boy-king of Egypt from 1361 to 1352 BC.

The treasures of Tutankhamun, found by Howard Carter in 1922, form the entire first section of the museum's collections. They are splendid and moving objects. The great mask of solid gold, beaten and burnished, which was found over the head and shoulders of his mummy, has a haunting presence that astonishes visitors. And Tutankhamun lay in a coffin of solid gold sheet weighing 90 kilos (2,900 troy oz). It is a symbol of the magnificence achieved in gold from ancient times here for all to see.

Egyptian Museum
Tahrir Square
Cairo
Egypt

Tel. & Fax     +20 2 579 4596
Web              www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg
   
Open

Saturday to Thursday 9 -14.00