Alexandria National Museum
Alexandria National Museum; The outstanding Alexandria National Museum raises the bar for summarising Alexandria’s illustrious history to new heights.
It performs an excellent job of conveying the city’s history from antiquity to the current day, thanks to a compact, intelligently chosen, and well-labeled collection that was picked from among Alexandria’s other museums.
There are many thousand years of Alexandrian history on three levels in a brilliantly restored Italianate villa, which is cryogenically air-conditioned. It is housed in a magnificently preserved Italianate villa.
When it was still a palace, the building that is now the National Museum of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was the gathering place for the city’s merchant class hierarchy and its royal families.
The museum is composed of three levels: the basement, which is home to Pharaonic artifacts; the ground level, which showcases Graeco-Roman treasures; and the first floor, which contains relics from Egypt’s Coptic Christian and Islamic heritage, in addition to providing some insight into the valuables left behind by King Farouk’s family prior to the revolution in 1952.
The structure was constructed in 1928 and is a mansion designed in the Italian style. It was built in 1928 by Assad Basili Pasha, a wealthy merchant, and this fact is easily identifiable. There are currently 1800 artifacts in it.
All of the priceless artifacts are the narrators of the extensive history of Alexandria, and they open new chapters that are connected to the Pharaonic, Roman, Coptic, and Islamic eras.
The Alexandria National Museum encompassed a total area of 3,480 square meters and was designed to resemble an Italian mansion. The museum also features four floors that are generously sized.
The museum is encircled on all sides by a lovely garden that features flowering plants and trees to provide shade.
Its recently repainted facade is gleaming white, and it features a semi-circular double staircase that leads to an elegant doorway.
This can be seen clearly from the street. The National Museum of Alexandria is not an exception.
Visitors can take a tour of the museum using computer programs that show each item from a variety of angles in a room that was converted into an audio-visual workshop in the basement. This room is located in the basement.
Even the grounds have been put to good use; for example, the old garage that belonged to the staff of the American Consulate has been repurposed as a lecture hall and an open-air theater for evening performances.
In point of fact, the grounds have already been utilized for one of the Book and Author receptions hosted by the American University in Cairo Press. – Construction on the Alexandria National Museum began in 1926, and the building wasn’t opened to the public until the 31st of December, 2003, when it was officially opened by the President of Egypt.
Alexandria’s National Museum is a must-see.
Ground floor exhibits artefacts from the Greco-Roman era, with notable pieces include a sphinx and other sculptures discovered during underwater excavations at Abu Qir.
Look for the little statue of the Greek deity Harpocrates, who has a finger to his lips (meaning quiet), which was transformed from the original Egyptian god Horus to symbolise the city of Athens. Check out the lovely statue of a Ptolemaic queen, who has Egyptian features but a Hellenistic physique, which is also on display.
The Pharaonic era is covered in the basement, which has artifacts from all around Egypt, including a rare New Kingdom pottery jar decorated with the deity Bes and the head of Queen Hatshepsut in painted limestone.
Antique coins, Ottoman weaponry, and jewels from the Royal Jewellery Museum are on exhibit on the upper level, which also includes relics from Islamic and contemporary times.
The early cohabitation of Alexandria’s main faiths is symbolised by a carved wooden cross surrounded by a crescent, which represents the city’s religious diversity. Through the years, well-written panels on the walls have provided valuable insights into the lives, art, and beliefs of the Alexandrians throughout history.
