Museum sights in Cairo
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Museum of Modern Egyptian Art
Across from the Cairo Opera House, the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art houses a vast – perhaps too vast – collection of 20th- and 21st-century Egyptian art. It can be difficult to appreciate the work given the cramped rooms, collected dust and lack of signage. The museum’s prize items are all on the ground floor: Mahmoud Mukhtar’s deco-elegant bronze statue Bride of the Nile is here, along with Mahmoud Said’s Al Madina (The City, 1937). Though Said has a slew of kitschy imitators, he was one of the first artists to depict folk life in vivid colour, and his commitment inspired Naguib Mahfouz to pursue his own career in writing. Throughout the museum, it is interest…
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Monastirli Palace
Set in a peaceful Nileside garden, Monastirli Palace was built in 1851 for an Ottoman pasha whose family hailed from Monastir, in northern Greece. The salamlik that he built for public functions is now an elegant venue for concerts, while the other part is now the Umm Kolthum Museum (%2363 1467; Sharia al-Malek as-Salih, Rhoda; admission around £E2; h10:00-17:00).
Dedicated to the most famous Arab diva, the small museum is more like a shrine, given the reverence with which the singer's signature rhinestone-trimmed glasses and glittery gowns are hung under spotlights in display cases. There's a multimedia room where you can listen to her music, and a short film shows key …
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Gayer-Anderson Museum
This quirky museum gets its current name from John Gayer-Anderson, the British major and army doctor who restored the two adjoining 16th-century houses between 1935 and 1942, filling them with antiquities, artworks and knick-knacks acquired on his travels in the region. On his death in 1945, Gayer-Anderson bequeathed the lot to Egypt. The puzzle of rooms is decorated in a variety of styles: the Persian Room has exquisite tiling, the Damascus Room has lacquer and gold, and the Queen Anne Room displays ornate furniture and a silver tea set. The enchanting mashrabiyya gallery looks down onto a magnificent qa’a (reception hall) which has a marble fountain, decorated ceiling…
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Mahmoud Mukhtar Museum
From the rear entrance of the Gezira Exhibition Grounds near the Galaa Bridge, you’ll see a modest gate across the road, which leads to the Mahmoud Mukhtar Museum. Mukhtar (1891–1934) was the sculptor laureate of independent Egypt, responsible for Saad Zaghloul on the nearby midan and the Egypt Reawakening monument outside the Giza Zoo. His collected work ranges from tiny caricatures (look for Ibn al-Balad, a spunky city kid) to life-size portraits. Mukhtar’s tomb sits in the basement. Egyptian architect Ramses Wissa Wassef (1911–74) designed the elegant building – originally open, to capture natural light, but this was changed presumably to keep the cleaning budget d…
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Manial Palace Museum
One of Cairo’s most eccentric tourist sites, the palace was built by the uncle of King Farouk, Prince Mohammed Ali, in the early 20th century. Apparently he couldn’t decide which architectural style he preferred, so he went for the lot: Ottoman, Moorish, Persian and European rococo. The palace contains, among other things, Farouk’s horde of hunting trophies and the prince’s collection of medieval manuscripts, clothing and other items. The gardens are planted with rare tropical plants collected by the prince on his travels. If you don’t want to walk to the museum, a taxi from Midan Tahrir should cost E£4. Note that the museum was closed at the time of research, though it’s…
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Agricultural Museum
It may sound dull, but the Agricultural Museum is far from it. Spread over several buildings, the displays tell you all you’ve ever wanted to know about agriculture in Egypt, from Pharaonic times onwards, and so much more: dioramas depict traditional weddings, glass cases are packed with wax cucurbits, and in one mothball-scented wing, a specimen of every bird in Egypt has been stuffed and pinned to a board. Dusty and a bit spooky, it’s a true hall of wonders. It’s about 1km from the Doqqi metro station.
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Mr & Mrs Mahmoud Khalil Museum
A noted politician during the 1940s, Mohammed Mahmoud Khalil amassed one of the Middle East’s finest collections of 19th- and 20th-century European work. The wonderful Mr & Mrs Mahmoud Khalil Museum includes sculptures by Rodin and paintings by the likes of Delacroix, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Monet and Pissarro. There are also some Rubens, Sisleys and a Picasso. The paintings are housed in Khalil’s former villa, later taken over by President Sadat. It’s just a few minutes’ walk south of the Cairo Sheraton.
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Umm Kolthum Museum
Dedicated to the most famous Arab diva, the small museum is more like a shrine, given the reverence with which the singer’s signature rhinestone-trimmed glasses and glittery gowns are hung under spotlights in display cases. There’s a multimedia room where you can listen to her music, and a short film shows key moments of her life, from the beginning when she performed disguised as a Bedouin boy, to her magnetic performances that brought Cairo to a standstill, to her funeral, when millions of mourners flooded the streets.
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October War Panorama
Built with help from North Korean artists, the October War Panorama is a memorial to the 1973 ‘victory’ over Israel. A large 3D mural and diorama depicts the Egyptian forces breaching of the Bar Lev Line on the Suez Canal, while a stirring commentary (in Arabic only) recounts the heroic victories. Interestingly it skips over the successful Israeli counterattacks. Both sides accepted a UN-brokered ceasefire, and Sinai was returned by negotiation six years later.
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Solar Barque Museum
South of the Great Pyramid is the fascinating Solar Barque Museum. Five pits near the Great Pyramid of Khufu contained the pharaoh’s solar barques (boats), which may have been used to convey the mummy of the dead pharaoh across the Nile to the valley temple, from where it was brought up the causeway and into the tomb chamber. The barques were then buried around the pyramid to provide transport for the pharaoh in the next world.
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Museum
This museum, founded in 1908, houses Coptic art from Graeco-Roman times to the Islamic era in a collection drawn from all over Egypt. It is a beautiful place, as much for the elaborate woodcarving in all the galleries as for the treasures they contain. These include a sculpture that shows obvious continuity from the Ptolemaic period, rich textiles and whole walls of monastery frescoes. There’s a pleasant garden out front.
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Midan Ataba
In Midan Ataba, 'modern European' Cairo runs up against the old medieval Cairo of Saladin (Salah ad-Din), the Mamluks and the Ottomans. It seems like one big bazaar, with all its traders and hawkers. In the southwest corner, the domed main post office has a pretty courtyard and an attached Postal Museum on the 2nd floor, whose collection tells the history of Egypt's postal service.
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Museum of Islamic Art
West of Bab Zuweila 500m, the Museum of Islamic Art holds one of the world’s finest collections of Islamic applied art: a trove of manuscripts, woodwork, textiles and astronomy instruments. Unfortunately it has been shut for restoration for several years, with no end in sight. Should it reopen, consider it nearly as essential viewing as the Egyptian Museum.
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National Military Museum
Mohammed Ali's one-time Harem Palace is now the lavish National Military Museum and perhaps the best-tended exhibition in the country. Endless plush-carpeted halls are lined with dioramas depicting great moments in warfare, from Pharaonic times to the 20th-century conflicts with Israel - kitschy fun to start, then eventually a bit depressing.
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Museum of Islamic Ceramics
Museum of Islamic Ceramics is a beautiful small museum. It’s housed in a gorgeous 1924 villa, where the intricately carved walls (and vintage bathroom) are as fascinating as the colourful plates, tiles and even 11th-century hand grenades on display. The garden and back of the building are given over to the Gezira Art Centre.
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Wikala of Al-Ghouri
Part of the Al-Ghouri complex, the Wikala of Al-Ghouri, is one of the doomed Qansuh al-Ghouri's, the penultimate Mamluk sultan, legacies. The upper rooms of this restored wikala (merchants' inn) are artists' ateliers while the former stables are craft shops. The courtyard serves as a theatre for Sufi dance performances.
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Egyptian National Railways Museum
The Ramses Station (Mahattat Ramses), at its eastern end, houses the Egyptian National Railways Museum with a beautiful but somewhat dilapidated collection of old locomotives, including one built for Empress Eugénie on the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal.
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Museo Mevlevi
The Museo Mevlevi centres on a meticulously restored Ottoman-era theatre for whirling dervishes. Hidden behind stone facades, the beautiful wood structure feels like a little jewel box.
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Gawhara Palace & Museum
South of Mohammed Ali's mosque is another terrace with good views. Beyond the terrace, the dull Gawhara Palace & Museum lamely attempts to evoke 19th-century court life.
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Police Museum
The flyblown Police Museum, at the northern end of the terrace, includes displays on famous political assassinations, complete in some cases with the murder weapon.
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Postal Museum
A beautifully maintained collection of stamps, uniforms and even tiny scale models of great post offices throughout Egypt.
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Contemporary Image Collective
Excellent exhibits documenting Egyptian life and occasionally shows videos on its rooftop.
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Egyptian Textile Museum
Directly across the street from the Madrassa & Mausoleum of Barquq.
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