All those interested in ancient history, horror movies, curses, sarcophagi, dead royalty jump aboard.
This is the land of the dead, may they rest in peace.In the Egyptian Museum I saw things I would’nt dare dream of and would’nt wanna meet on a moonless night.Strike that, make it would’nt wanna meet anytime, night or day.
The entry fee to the Royal Mummy Room is 70 whopping pounds per person, about Rs.560-580, this is in addition to the museum’s normal entry price.And its worth every green buck.There lie the mummies of Ramses II, Amenhotep I, Tuthmosis, Seti and others.
I tell you to see these great pharoahs is almost an honour.
They have been preserved beautifully and we could see Ramses’ aristocratic profile and the wisps of hair on his head, there was a toe peeking out of the bandaging and I could stare at it forever, imagining how this man once lived...5000 plus years ago , to be precise..Something that struck me was how tall these people must have been.
Even shriveled, the bodies were 5 and 6 feet tall which means that they must have been huge in life.The mummy rooms at a constant 22 degree temperature, the lighting is muted & you are forbidden to speak above a whisper, most people are too spell bound to speak anyway.
I felt I was in a mausoleum and it was partly right...The other attractions for me were Tutankhamen’s gallery, the solid gold 11 kg death mask and canopic jars.The museum is huge, walking through it is tiring so wear comfortable shoes.
The royalty had access to tons of gold that was mined in Sudan and Nubia hence the lavish use of gold in almost every sarcophagus..but nothing compared to Tutankhamen’s mask.A lot of antique smuggling still goes on & I learnt no less than 2 mummies were smuggled out of Egypt to private collectors in Europe, in addition to statues, sarcophagi and other things.
The best time to go is september to feb. Avoid summers as the temperature reaches mercury splitting levels.Btw we visited upper Egypt only, lower Egypt’s for another time.
People who are interested can visit Coptic Cairo also (Egyptian catholics).Also go see Saqqara, Memphis and the tomb of Imhotep (remember the movie ’the mummy"?)