The Egyptian Museum.
Only in comparatively recent years have antiquities been adequately prized or cared for. Early in the nineteenth century Lord Elgin, then on diplomatic service to Turkey, was so dismayed by the spectacle of Parthenon fragments lying about unprotected on the Acropolis at Athens, that he succeeded in obtaining permission from the Sublime Porte to remove them to England. Subsequently the British Museum purchased them from him for much less than had been the expense incurred in removing and exporting them from Greece. Similarly, valuable recoveries in Egypt were left for private individuals to take away as they saw fit; sometimes they were finally collected by national museums, but quite as often they became the possessions of the favored few, or in some cases were even wholly lost.
In 1863 Mariette obtained the exclusive right to excavate in Egypt He also awakened the government to the need of placing all recoveries under its exclusive control. Since the time of Napoleon scarcely a vessel had left Alexandria without carrying some priceless treasure to be added to the collections of the Louvre or the British Museum. In 1878 Mariette founded the Egyptian Museum at Balak, and for a long time it was known as the Balak Museum.
Although small and without the slightest protection against fire, it nevertheless provided a place for antiques; some were merely stored in sheds, for lack of room, and others remained unclassified because there was no opportunity to display them. In 1889 the need for another building was keenly felt. Egypt could not build at this time, but the Palace of Gizeh was placed at the disposal of the collection. While somewhat larger than Balak, it was neither commodious nor safe.
On the first day of April, 1897, the corner stone of a national museum was laid in Cairo by the Khedive. This substantial and fireproof building, constructed at a cost of almost $900,000, was completed November 15, 1902, and is now the repository of the largest and most valuable collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world.
This museum has been fortunate in its curators—all men of scholarly attainments and well versed in Egyptian history. Mariette was succeeded by M. Maspero, whose voluminous work upon Egyptian history is well known to many. Later he resigned this position to resume his literary work in Europe, only to return by a fortunate circumstance in 1899, in time to supervise the transfer of the many priceless treasures to their present abode.
Leaving the busy streets of Cairo, one turns from Mohammedan to ancient Egypt. On every hand the past looms up; pharaohs and beings of a period far remote populate this little world, and so far as life can express itself in material things, these are available for examination and study. The plan followed in the arrangement is the chronological one used also in the earlier buildings. The heavier objects have been given place on the ground floor; the lighter and smaller articles on the floor above. The first six rooms on the ground floor are devoted to the remains of the Old Empire—particularly of the fourth, fifth and sixth dynasties. The diorite statue of Khafra, so often shown in prints, is here; also the squatting statue of a scribe, second only in beauty to the one in the Louvre. The next series of rooms are given over to the remains of the Middle Empire. The statue of Amenemhet III, of the twelfth dynasty, is worthy of special mention. Moreover, statues and sphinxes of the Hyksos period are also found here.
The New Empire left evidences of regal splendor, eclipsing all earlier periods; gilded chairs, chariots, dishes of gold and silver, as well as statues of the kings themselves attract attention. Other rooms record Egypt's decay—when Ethiopians ruled the land; the period of Egyptian Renaissance, productive of wonderful sculpture; the coming of Alexander and Greek supremacy; the period of Roman rule; and finally Byzantine Egypt.
The second floor is the treasure house for the more varied remains. One may see the mummies of the priests of Ammon, funerary furniture, dolls and other toys, alabaster vases, domestic furniture, funerary barks, terra-cottas of the Græco-Roman period, statues of the gods, amulets and "answerers" and, most imposing of all perhaps, the royal mummies.
In one of the rooms is an example of the finest surviving Egyptian painting: a picture of geese feeding. This, like other paintings of ancient Egypt, was found in an old tomb.
The Galerie des Bijoux is also on this upper floor. Some of its wonderful treasures rival the workmanship of Tiffany; others are even more perfect. The stones most frequently used were lapis lazuli, carnelian, jasper and garnets. The favorite ornaments were rings, collars, chains, amulets and bracelets.
One might spend months in this museum and fail to exhaust its marvels. Few can do this, and for those whose visit to Cairo must be brief, it is better to see only a little and see it well than to attempt to hurriedly pass through all the rooms. The British Museum, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum in New York all have departments of Egyptian antiquities.
Since the work of excavation and discovery still goes on, it may reasonably be expected that further light will be thrown upon the past by the labor of the next few years. For this reason only recent publications regarding the Nile dwellers have any great value.