Ismailia Museum

Suez Canal


More than 4000 objects from Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman times are housed in this tiny but interesting museum on the eastern edge of town. The collection includes statues, scarabs, stelae and records of the first canal, built between the Bitter Lakes and Bubastis by the Persian ruler Darius. The highlight is a 4th-century mosaic depicting Phaedra sending a love letter to her stepson Hippolytus, while below Dionysus rides a chariot driven by Eros.