Egyptian artifacts are showcased at international museums across the Western world. If anyone was determined to see every great collection of ancient Egyptian art, they would need to travel across three continents. The museums on this list have tens of thousands of Egyptian artifacts in their collection and are known for showing world-class exhibitions.
1. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt contains the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world. The museum utilizes over 100 galleries to show 5,000 years of Egypt’s history from the Predynastic Period until the Graeco-Roman Era (ca. 5500 BCE- 364 CE). Some artifacts will move to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) when the grand opening of the newly constructed museum in Giza is completed. However, as of 2024 the Egyptian Museum, located in Downtown Cairo’s Tahrir Square, shows iconic Egyptian art such as the gold burial mask of Tutankhamun.
Being a museum dedicated only to ancient Egypt and located in the heart of Cairo, the Egyptian Museum is top-tier. The collection numbers over 100,000 artifacts including pharaonic statues, sarcophagi, and grave goods such as tomb furniture. This includes the famous Narmer Palette, the complete burials of Yuya and Thuya, and statues of kings Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. One exhibition area focuses on animal mummies of rams, dogs, and crocodiles, which Egyptians brought into their tombs to keep them company in the afterlife.
2. The British Museum in London, United Kingdom
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Sign up to our Free Weekly NewsletterWhen the British Museum opened in 1759, it was the first national institution to show artifacts from around the world and it is known today for housing some of the greatest Egyptian artifacts. On the ground floor of the museum, there is a breathtaking sculpture gallery filled with ancient Egyptian monuments. One of the most famous artifacts is the Rosetta Stone, a stone slab inscribed with a decree about Ptolemy V written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic script (a daily script used by ancient Egyptians), and ancient Greek writing. When the stone was discovered, it allowed scholars to decipher hieroglyphs for the first time and it is a priceless cultural relic.
The largest sculpture is the colossal granite statue of Ramses II. The sculpture gallery also displays the colossal granite head of King Amenhotep III, statues of Senwosret III and Sobekemsaf, and the sarcophagus of Nectanebo II. Upstairs, the galleries show the depth of the collection with high-quality fragments of wall paintings, mummies, and funerary masks of deceased Egyptian royalty.
3. The Louvre in Paris, France
The Louvre began displaying a wide range of Egyptian antiquities in 1827 by opening the first Egyptian museum created by French scholar Jean-François Champollion. Today, the museum’s Department of Egyptian Antiquities displays artifacts on two levels. The Egyptian rooms are curated to explain ancient Egyptian life and to display marvelous relics such as the tomb of Akhethotep. The tomb was relocated and reconstructed inside the museum allowing visitors to experience the low-relief carvings that decorate the interior walls.
Other notable items at the Louvre include the Seated Scribe, the Great Sphinx of Tanis, and the Outer Coffin of Tamutnefret. The Seated Scribe is a rare artifact because of the realistic elements of its face and posture that are not often found in ancient Egyptian sculptures. As an internationally renowned museum, the Louvre also shows a room of enormous temple statues including sculptures of Hatshepsut and Ramses II.
4. The Museum of Fine Arts Boston in Boston, United States
Outside of Cario, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston contains the largest collection of Egyptian Old Kingdom masterpieces. The great collection was built with the help of archeologists at nearby Harvard University. In the early 20th century, Dr. George A. Reisner excavated in Egypt on behalf of the university and secured much of the museum’s collection. The collection is named the “Art of Ancient Egypt, Nubia, and the Near East” and one famous artifact exhibited is the statue of King Menkaura (Mycerinus) and queen from the 4th dynasty.
The museum is known for presenting a wide array of funerary art including canopic jars, figurines (called shabtis), and jewelry. The Museum of Fine Arts Boston highlights the giant stone sarcophagus lid of a 6th-century general named Kheperra, a pair of painted coffins of Governor Djehutynakht and his wife, and from the Valley of the Kings the sarcophagus of Thutmose I.
5. The Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany
The Neues Museum houses a collection that went on display at the location in 1855 but was destroyed during the Second World War. Decades later, the museum was rebuilt at the same location using a combination of modern architecture and remnants from the previous building. The collection is most well-known for the iconic bust of Nefertiti, a painted bust of the Egyptian queen renowned for its unusual artistry and striking feminine features.
The domestic altar featuring the royal couple Akhenaten and Nefertiti from the New Kingdom is another unmistakable addition to the museum’s collection of statues and artifacts. Objects from the period of Akhenaten’s rule are unique because he presented himself as a representation of a monotheistic god. The museum also includes three burial chambers, showcasing hundreds of early Egyptian reliefs dating from around 2500 BCE.
6. The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo, Egypt
Another exceptional museum in Cairo, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, exhibits historical objects from the very beginnings of Egyptian civilization until modern times. The museum contains a royal mummies hall that shows the development of ancient burial methods. The hall has a feeling of being in a real cemetery where visitors walk alongside over a dozen mummified remains of ancient Egyptian kings and queens grouped together with their family members. These include King Ramses II, King Thutmose III, Queen Hatshepsut, and Queen Ahmose Nefertari.
A unique gallery section is curated for visitors to learn how mummification works. The details of wrapping and embalming the corpse for mummification and burial are exemplified using Egyptian artifacts from the collection. One example of how the collection teaches visitors about the mummification process is Queen Isetemkheb’s mummification tent. The artifact is a leather tent dating to around 1000 BCE that was used to purify the body in a sacred ritual.
7. Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy
This Italian museum focuses completely on ancient Egypt and has amassed a collection of more than 36,000 objects, of which around 4,000 are on view. Founded in 1824 in the northern Italian city of Turin, Museo Egizio is the oldest museum of ancient Egyptian culture in the world. The galleries are designed with traditional antique architecture and renovated with modern elements that update the museum into the 21st century.
One of the most impressive parts of the collection is a statue of Ramses II from the New Kingdom. This enormous statue stands over six feet tall (196 cm) and is almost completely intact. An important collection of papyrus, including The Book of the Dead of Kha from the New Kingdom, is not on display but is being analyzed and studied by the museum’s team to learn more about Egyptian history.
8. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, United States
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York City has an Egyptian art department representing approximately 30,000 ancient objects dating from around 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. The first impression of visitors to the MET is usually the enormous Temple of Dendur which was brought to the museum, rebuilt on sight, and is now displayed in an expansive atrium. The room has floor-to-ceiling windows on one side and the temple is surrounded by an indoor water installation framed by two colossal statues of Amenhotep III. The Temple of Dendur was completed by the Roman emperor Augustus after he succeeded Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt.
Other remarkable artifacts shown in the MET’s Egyptian galleries include the offering chapel of Perneb’s mastaba from the Old Kingdom and the jewelry of Princess Sithathoryunet from the 12th Dynasty. Another highlight is the great sphinxes from Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, including the well-preserved Sphinx of Hatshepsut (ca. 1479-1458 BCE).
9. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London, United Kingdom
The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology is a part of London’s UCL University used for research, teaching, and public display. The Petrie Museum contains more than 80,000 artifacts of Egyptian and Sudanese archeology. Though the galleries are not currently open to the public, they are planned to re-open on August 6, 2024.
The museum’s collection features inscribed reliefs of Akhenaten and the rays of the sun god Aten, featuring iconography marking Akhenaten’s religious reforms. Another great addition is the panel of funerary portraits (called Hawara) that show the influence of Greco-Roman art on Egyptian burial objects of the period. One example is the image of a young man dating to around 140-160 CE painted with European qualities which gives insight into a revolution in artistic style.
10. The Penn Museum in Philadelphia, United States
The Penn Museum’s collection totals approximately 50,000 Egyptian artifacts. The museum is currently under construction, reinstalling the Egyptian galleries with the Palace of Merenptah at the forefront of a new upper gallery. The Palace of Merenptah was excavated by the Penn Museum and was originally located adjacent to the Great Temple of Ptah in Memphis. Created by King Merenptah of the 19th dynasty, the building was constructed to honor the god Ptah as part of the religious center. The temple will be reconstructed into a permanent exhibition complete with the original roof and columns.
Until the Penn Museum’s Egyptian section re-opens, parts of the collection remain on display. For example, the museum shows the Granite Sphinx of Ramses II from the New Kingdom which is noted as the fourth-largest sphinx outside of Egypt. Much like the other museums on this list that are being renovated, the Penn Museum excites museum-goers with upcoming improvements that will expand public viewing of the ancient Egyptian world.
