On Location - Luxor Museum, Luxor, Egypt

The Luxor Museum was inaugurated in 1975 as a location to house a modest range of high quality antiquities found in the local archaeological sites.  It's really worth a visit and does not take too long to wander around and admire the pieces on display.

Amongst its collection, you can find a number of masterpieces including a well-preserved limestone relief of Tuthmosis III, an exquisitely carved statue of Tuthmosis III in greywacke from the Temple of Karnak, an alabaster figure of Amenhotep III protected by the great crocodile god Sobek, and one of the few examples of Old Kingdom art found at Thebes, a relief of Unas-ankh, found in his tomb on the west bank.

You can come face-to-face with a seated granite figure of the legendary scribe Amenhotep, son of Hapu, the great official eventually deified in Ptolemaic times and who, as overseer of all the pharaoh’s works under Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BC), was responsible for many of Thebes’ greatest buildings. One of the most interesting exhibits is the Wall of Akhenaten, a series of small sandstone blocks named talatat (threes) by workmen – probably because their height and length was about three hand lengths – that came from Amenhotep IV’s contribution at Karnak before he changed his name to Akhenaten and left Thebes for Tell Al Amarna. His building was demolished and about 40,000 blocks used to fill in Karnak’s ninth pylon were found in the late 1960s and partially reassembled here. The scenes showing Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti and temple life are a rare example of decoration from a temple of Aten. Further highlights are treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb, including shabti (servant) figures, model boats, sandals, arrows and a series of gilded bronze rosettes from his funeral pall.

The new wing of the museum was opened in 2004, dedicated to the glory of Thebes during the New Kingdom period. The highlight, and the main reason for the new construction, is the two royal mummies, Ahmose I (founder of the 18th dynasty) and the mummy some believe to be Ramses I (founder of the 19th dynasty and father of Seti I), beautifully displayed without their wrappings in dark rooms.