Turin’s Egyptian Museum is one of the most visitedattractions in the city, and rightly so. Holding over 6,500 artifacts in itsdisplays and over 25,000 in storage, the museum is the only place you can seefull collections of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt.
Housed in a palace from the 17th century, the museum takesyou through the near 6,000-year history of Egypt. The collections have beensourced since 1630, when the first Egyptian artifact was purchased. Since thenthe collections have grown and with numerous expeditions undertaken throughout the early1900s, the museum has become truly impressive.
Stepping into the museum, you’ll immediately see largesphinxes and sarcophagi of pharaohs. The best way to visit the museum is alongthe suggested route, so head upstairs to begin your exploration of the time when pharaohs still ruled Egypt.The first gallerytakes you through a number of outlying villages of ancient Egypt that wereexcavated by the museum. Wander through the burial exhibition next door andlearn about the intricate methods Egyptians used to preserve their deceased.
Back downstairs you’ll find the Temple of Ellesiya fromNubia, painstakingly reconstructed inside the museum. Make your way to the final hall of the museum and you’ll find its most prized collection, the contents ofthe Tomb of Kha. This exhibit holds over 500 pieces from a single tomb,including multiple sarcophagi, as well as furniture, food and artworks.
If you are traveling with children who are a bit spooked by the concept of death, skip through someof the galleries which have burial-related exhibits, since a number of the mummifiedremains can be a bit frightening for some.
The Egyptian Museum is open to the public from Tuesdaythrough to Sunday. Allow at least three hours to see the museum. Depending onyour interest in history and ancient civilizations, you could easily spend half a day wandering thegalleries. Children enter for free and those from 18 to 24 years old pay a reducedadmission price.
