Egypt 3 – Egyptian Museum and Old Cairo
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
The Egyptian Museum
The Sculpture Garden at Egyptian Museum
View of the main hall in the museum
On Monday, a cold snap hit Cairo…it was merely 90 degrees rather than 109. To be honest, it didn’t feel that much different to me though everyone else was rejoicing at how cool it had gotten. Bright and early on Monday morning I headed to the world-famous Egyptian Museum which is conveniently located 300 meters from my hotel. It took no less than two police officers to assist me across four lanes of traffic…I have never seen such traffic or crazy driving as I’ve seen in Cairo. The driving situation here makes Chicago drivers look like little old ladies out for a Sunday stroll.
The museum is housed in an enormous pink building with a nice entryway including a sculpture garden with a pond. The building is very large and packed full of artifacts but still there is not enough room for everything and I’m told much of the collection lies in storage in the basement. The pride and joy of the Egyptian Museum is the King Tut display. King Tut’s tomb was only discovered in the last century by Englishman Howard Carter in 1922 and amazingly was found to be largely intact. Our cameras were confiscated upon arrival so the pictures here are those I’ve found elsewhere on the web but are of the same artifacts I saw in the Museum. Perhaps the coolest exhibit in the Egyptian Museum is that of the Royal Mummies. About 20 mummies from kings and queens of years past were on display and by display, I mean they had pulled down the linen wrappings around the bodies to show the head and the feet of each mummy. It was truly fascinating and well worth the additional entrance fee.
Mask over the head of King Tut’s mummy. Estimated by collectors to be worth more than the Crown Jewels
Throne
One of 3 coffins that contained the mummy
Royal bed found in the tomb
Necklace
Shrine in which the various coffins were contained
Ceremonial chair considered the best example of cabinet-making found in Egypt
After the museum, I decided to hop on the Metro and head down to Old Cairo, the scene of the original city from 500 BC and later a Christian enclave where a few small, ancient Christian churches still exist. I love cities with subways. Subways are so easy to get around in. They are pretty much the same everywhere and it’s very difficult to mess up. Indeed Cairo was the same. The subway system has only two lines so it doesn’t go everywhere but for this particularly stop on the tour it was extremely convenient…and cheap. One ticket costs 1 Egyptian pound which is roughly the equivalent of 18 cents. Yes, 18 cents.
Egypt being a largely Muslim country, there are all kinds of gender restrictions on men and women in public. Interestingly, there are 4 cars of each train dedicated exclusively to women and they are very clearly marked so everyone knows what is expected. It is not, however, clear to me what would happen if a woman tried to ride in a man’s carriage and I wasn’t really up for finding out so there I found myself…the only “Western” woman in a car full of hooded and veiled women. It was certainly a different experience…they were no doubt wondering about my life as much as I found myself wondering about theirs.
Hanging Church
Just outside the Metro stop was the entrance to Old Cairo. There are a few remaining churches from the 5th century AD as well as a Jewish synagogue from the 12th century AD that lie nearly 3 meters below street level. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of the inside of those old churches or the synagogue so the pictures you see here are from the other two that are above ground. The main attraction aside from the Coptic Museum is the Hanging Church…so named because it is not set on a foundation at all but is set on three stone piers of the semi-flooded Roman Water Gate. It was originally built in the 4th century AD, demolished in 840, rebuilt in 977 and “recently” modified in 1775. Inside the church they have a cut-out in the floor showing 13 meters down that there is indeed no foundation. The inside of the church is very beautiful with a 15 column pulpit as well as the wood and mother-of-pearl inlaid screen in the front separating the main church from the side rooms. The mosaics of various biblical scenes are on the walls leading to the steep stairs up into the church.
Entryway to Hanging Church
Main portion of church with 15 column pulpit
Examples of woodwork with inlaid mother-of-pearl
Mosaics on the walls leading up to Hanging Church
The second church of interest is that of the modern St. George (1904)…the only circular church in Egypt. Surprisingly they allowed me to take pictures in there though it’s sort of difficult to take pictures of round spaces. The painting of Christ is underneath the dome shown in the photo and the wooden chairs are found around the perimeter of the building. This church is the head of the Greek Orthodox church in Cairo and the mausoleums you see here are from the Greek Orthodox cemetery within the stone walls of old Cairo. The tombs and mausoleums are in surprisingly poor repair given that the dates of most of the burials are within the last century. Those of you who were with me in New Orleans and again in Buenos Aires may recall my fascination for old cemeteries. There’s just something interesting, eerie and beautiful about them to me.
By 3 pm I was ready to return to the hotel for a little siesta. My final day in Cairo finds me cruising through the narrow and windy streets of Islamic Cairo and the old Khan El-Khalili market. Pictures and stories to follow tomorrow!
Modern Church of St. George
Entryway to Old Cairo
Mausoleums and tombs from Greek Orthodox cemetery
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