Egyptian Museum

The single most important, not-to-miss place in Cairo is the Egyptian Museum. We wish we’d had more than one day there on our visit in March ’97, but the one we had was wonderful.

The Tutankhamon exhibit, part of which we had seen when it was on exhibit in Los Angeles in the 1980s, had far more in it than I expected. The craftsmanship, artistic style and mint condition of many of the items were greater than I remembered.

The solid gold mask and the coffin and throne of Tuntankhamon are, of course, the highlights, but there are countless little surprises as you work your way through the exhibit. Some of the cabinets were just crammed full of figurines, decorative art and utilitarian items, so close together that we could not see the entire item. Even so, for the most part, things were displayed far better than we expected.

WAYNE BROWNING
Newport Beach, CA