Egyptian Museum | Cairo Egypt Day 6

After our stop at the Khan el-Khalili bazaar, we were brought to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. I was a bit upset at that because I did not want to have American food in Egypt. But thankfully, it was not burgers and fries after all. We had a buffet spread of a mix of Egyptian and American style of food, which suited me fine.

We then went to the Egyptian Museum. The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history. It houses the world’s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities, and many treasures of King Tutankhamen.

Egyptian Museum, Cairo Egypt

Unlike many of the tombs discovered in Egypt, that of King Tutankhamun was found mostly intact. Inside the tomb there is a large collection of artifacts used throughout the King’s life. These artifacts range from a decorated chest, which was most likely used as a closet or suitcase, to ivory and gold bracelets, necklaces, and other decorative jewelry, to alabaster vases and flasks. The tomb is also home to many weapons and instruments used by the King. Although the tomb holds over 3,500 artifacts, it should be noted that this tomb was not found completely intact. In fact, there have been at least two robberies of the tomb, perhaps soon after Tutankhamun's burial. The most well known artifact in King Tutankhamun’s tomb is the famous Gold Mask, which rests over the bandages that wrap around the King’s face. The mask weighs in at 24.5 pounds of solid gold, and is believed to represent what the King’s face really looked like. Many features of the mask the eyes, nose, lips and chin are all represented very well.

The remains of many famous Pharaohs are stored in the Egyptian Museum. One of these is Pharaoh Ramses III, who was an extremely skilled warrior. For many of the mummified pharaohs, it has been very difficult to determine when they were born. Also, historians can only estimate a time when they reigned over Egypt. For Amenhotep IV, historians have estimated that he reigned around 1372 B.C. They knew this because they found out when Amenhotep IV's father, Amenhotep III died. Also, that Amenhotep IV's tomb inscribed five names he gave himself and one of them, Golden Horus, proves that he was crowned on the bank of the Nile, his father's favorite domain. Before he even became pharaoh, however, he was already married to Nefertiti. When Amenhotep IV did become pharaoh, he destroyed the religion of Amun. He did this because he wanted start his own new religion of Aten, the disc which sent out rays ending in hands. King Sneferu was believed to be the first king of the Fourth Dynasty. The year Sneferu was believed to have started his reign over Egypt was around 2620 B.C. Sneferu is believed to have been a fair and just king. Master of Justice or Truth was his other chosen name. Sneferu, like many other kings, built many temples and structures. All of Sneferu’s structures and buildings had a signature. His signature was having a statue of a woman symbolizing the foundation. The statue of the young women is presenting the sign of life and votive offerings, as well as the signs of the city and the stronghold. There are about four or five of these in each province. A lot of the pharaohs had coronation names and they all seemed to be alike. For example, Sneferu, Tut, and Amenhotep all had the name "Golden Horus".

Photographs were not allowed inside the Museum, but I managed to find some pictures of some artifacts I saw at the museum that were very interesting.

Take a look.



Sheikh el-Balad, Arabic title for the chief of the village, was the name given to this remarkable wooden statue discovered by the workmen of Auguste Mariette, the French archaeologist, because it resembled their own village chief.

The statue depicts Ka-aper, the chief lector priest, in charge of reciting prayers for the deceased in temples and funerary chapels. It is one of the masterpieces of the private statuary of the Old Kingdom.

The arms were separately modeled and attached to the body, a technique frequently used in wooden statuary.

A wooden cane supported the left arm, made out of two pieces of wood joined together.

The eyes are inlaid; the rim is made out of copper and the white is of opaque quartz, while the cornea is made out of rock crystal.

Present location: EGYPTIAN MUSEUM [01/001] CAIRO EM
Inventory number: CG 34
Dating: 5TH DYNASTY
Archaeological Site: SAQQARA NECROPOLIS
Category: STATUE
Material: SYCAMORE
Technique: SCULPTURED
Height: 112 cm



Rahotep might have been a son of King Senefru and thus, a brother of King Khufu. He held the titles of High Priest of Ra at Heliopolis, General of the Army, and Chief of Constructions.

He is seen here wearing a short kilt, short hair, a fine mustache, and a heart-shaped amulet around his neck.

Rahotep's wife, Nofret, is described as "the one acquainted to the king." She is seen wearing a shoulder-length wig, decorated with a floral diadem and a broad collar. Her natural hair can be seen under the wig.

We recognize the distinction in the skin coloring of the two statues: reddish brown for the man and cream wash for the woman. This was an artistic convention followed throughout ancient Egyptian history. The colors are well preserved and the faces have realistic expressions.

The torchlight reflecting on the inlaid eyes of these two statues caused the workmen who first gazed at them to be afraid.

Present location: EGYPTIAN MUSEUM [01/001] CAIRO EM
Inventory number: CG 3 , 4
Dating: 4TH DYNASTY
Archaeological Site: MAIDUM
Category: STATUE
Material: LIMESTONE; QUARTZITE
Technique: CARVED; POLISHED
Height: 121 cm
Width: 51 cm

Khan-El-Khalili Bazaar | Cairo Egypt Day 6

After our visit to the Citadel, they brought us to the Khan-El-Khalili bazaar. The bazaar was built in 1382 by the Emir Djaharks el-Khalili in the heart of the Fatimid City.

I had been waiting for this for a long time - being a shopaholic, bazaars are havens for me. In fact, this was so much looked forward to, that when I saw things for sale over the last few days from Luxor to Aswan, I told myself to save the money for shopping at the bazaar. I expected to find great buys at the bazaar. Well, imagine my disappointment when the tour guide told us that we would only be given 45 minutes to shop at the bazaar! What nonsense. How could anyone explore a huge and maze-like bazaar like the Khan El-Khalili in 45 minutes?

I believe that the real reason why we were not given time to shop at Khan El-Khalili was because it benefited only us, and not the tour guide. The tour guides bring tourists to stores where they can get commissions from everything we buy. I suppose that's how they make a living - but I much preferred shopping at the bazaar then other places.

Despite our protests, we only got an extra 15 minutes. We were told that we had to go for lunch after the bazaar, and then after lunch we were headed to the Egyptian Museum. I would have loved to skip lunch, but ah well. When you travel with a tour group, these are such inconveniences you have to deal with.

We rushed to the bazaar, and got trapped in one store right from the beginning. My friends agreed on prices for some t-shirts. After 15 minutes spent on selecting the items, the seller raised his prices. Meanwhile, I was looking at some Egyptian cotton tops, and the seller was smoking right in my face. That was a major annoyance. When he reneged on the agreed upon prices, we stormed out in anger and the seller called us crazy. But we had no time to lose!

We chanced upon a store selling nice Egyptian tops. The seller, an elderly man, seemed to have known that we were in no business for haggling and wasting time. He quickly agreed upon a price - 30 Egyptian pounds for cotton Egyptian tunic tops - and brought us to his larger store where we selected the items. I probably bought more stuff from him that I did with any other seller during my time in Egypt so far.

Because of the limited time we had, we spent all of our remaining time at that shop. Then we rushed back to the bus - we were late by 15 minutes and the rest of the group was waiting for us. I felt disappointed that I did not have enough time to browse around the shops in the bazaar. But I made plans with my friends to return to the bazaar on our own when we found the time - which we did later on our last night in Cairo.

Khan El-Khalili Bazaar Cairo Egypt



The El-Fishawi Cafe, or Cafe of Mirrors
Was once a meeting place for local artists, and is still
frequented by the Nobel Award winning Naguib Mahfouz,
one of Egypt's most well known authors.










It would be a good idea to spend an entire afternoon browsing around the Khan el-Khalili bazaar - amongst the many tacky made in China trinkets, it is possible to find great buys, like lovely scarfs, mirrors and even spices.

Citadel of Salahaldin | Cairo Egypt Day 6

The first visit of the day was to the Citadel of Salahaldin in Cairo. We had to go through Cairo's usual day-time traffic on the highway to get there!

Cairo Highway Traffic

The Citadel began its life not as a great military base of operations, but as the "Dome of the Wind," a pavilion created in 810 by Hatim Ibn Hartama, who was then governor. These early governors, not realizing its strategic importance, simply used the pavilion for the view it provided of Cairo.

It was was fortified by the Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din (Saladin) between 1176 and 1183 AD, to protect it from the Crusaders.

The citadel contains the Mosque of Mohamed Ali (or Muhammad Ali Pasha), which was built between 1828 and 1848, perched on the summit of the citadel. This Ottoman mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali's oldest son, who died in 1816. However, it also represents Muhammad Ali's efforts to erase symbols of the Mamluk dynasty that he replaced. When Ottoman ruler Muhammad Ali Pasha took control from the Mamluks in 1805 he altered many of the additions to the Citadel that reflected Cairo's previous leaders. One obvious change that Muhammad Ali enacted pertained to the uses of the Citadel's northern and southern enclosures. During the Mamluk period the southern enclosure was the residential area, but Muhammad Ali claimed the northern enclosure as the royal residence when he took power. He then opened the southern enclosure to the public and effectively established his position as the new leader.

Citadel of Salah al-din Pictures








Mosque of Mohamed Ali Cairo, Egypt Pictures