Aswan Museum

Last updated
Aswan Museum
Musee d'Aszan - panoramio.jpg
Museum on the island of Elephantine, Aswan, Egypt
Aswan Museum
Location Aswan, Egypt.

Aswan Museum is a museum in Elephantine, located on the south-eastern side of Aswan, Egypt. It was set up in 1912 by the British Egyptologist Cecil Mallaby Firth. [1] The museum features artifacts from Nubia, which were housed there during the construction of the Aswan Dam. In 1990, a new department was inaugurated. It displayed findings that were discovered on Elephantine island itself, such as utensils, weapons, pottery and mummies. [2]

Contents

The museum is situated close to the Ruins of Abu, where excavations are still taking place.

Museum contents

The museum includes many statues of kings and individuals, some mummies of the ram, the symbol of the god "Khnum", various types of pottery, architectural and decorative elements, a number of sarcophagi, tools of daily life, and some funerary paintings. In recent years, the German mission excavating in Elephantine, in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, established an annex to the old museum located to the north of it and includes some of the antiquities that the mission found during its excavations that took place for many years on the island.

The museum also includes a garden, caves carved with rock carvings, minarets in the Islamic style, a Nubian house surrounded by a lake, the temple of the goddess Satet, the Temple of haqanaan ayb, and a Nilometer. [3]

Museum development

Between 1991 and 1993, a new annex was added to the Aswan Museum, called the Incs, located on Elften Island, about ten meters to the north of the Aswan Museum. The area of the museum annex is about 220 square meters and has 3 exhibition halls and a glass ceiling topped by a concrete roof and crowned in the central region in a hierarchical form. The German Archaeological Institute on Elephantine Island from 1969 until 1997.

After closing a period since the January 2011 revolution, the Minister of Antiquities decided to reopen the Aswan Museum on Elephantine Island again to foreign tourists, coinciding with the passage of 100 years since the establishment of the museum in 1917, and a major celebration on this occasion. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aswan</span> City in Egypt

Aswan is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egyptology</span> Scientific study of ancient Egypt

Egyptology is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the 4th century AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khnum</span> God of creation and the waters in Egyptian mythology

Khnum, also romanised Khnemu, was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities in Upper Egypt, originally associated with the Nile cataract. He held the responsibility of regulating the annual inundation of the river, emanating from the caverns of Hapy, the deity embodying the flood. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt and clay, and its water brought life to its surroundings, he eventually became known as the creator of human bodies and the life force kꜣ ("ka"). Using a potter's wheel and clay, he fashioned these entities and placed them within their mothers' wombs. Often, his creative endeavors were overseen by another god. He was later described as having moulded the other deities, and was revered as the creator of the animal kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saqqara</span> Burial ground in Giza Governorate, Egypt

Saqqara, also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English, is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara contains numerous pyramids, including the Pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Pyramid, and a number of mastaba tombs. Located some 30 km (19 mi) south of modern-day Cairo, Saqqara covers an area of around 7 by 1.5 km.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Kom Ombo</span> Building in Egypt

The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple in the town of Kom Ombo in Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty, 180–47 BC. Some additions to it were later made during the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luxor</span> City in southern Egypt

Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt, which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. Luxor had a population of 1,333,309 in 2020, with an area of approximately 417 km2 (161 sq mi) and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the oldest inhabited cities in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elephantine</span> Island in the Nile

Elephantine is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological digs on the island became a World Heritage Site in 1979, along with other examples of Upper Egyptian architecture, as part of the "Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elephantine papyri and ostraca</span> 5th- to 4th-century BCE Egyptian texts

The Elephantine Papyri and Ostraca consist of thousands of documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Aswan, which yielded hundreds of papyri and ostraca in hieratic and demotic Egyptian, Aramaic, Koine Greek, Latin and Coptic, spanning a period of 100 years in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE. The documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives, and are thus an invaluable source of knowledge for scholars of varied disciplines such as epistolography, law, society, religion, language and onomastics. The Elephantine documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives: divorce documents, the manumission of slaves, and other business. The dry soil of Upper Egypt preserved the documents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philae Island</span> Philae Island was an island near the expansive First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt

Philae Island was an island near the expansive First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt. Due to the building of the Aswan Dam, the island is today submerged under Lake Nasser. Prior to the submerging, the Philae temple complex which had been built on the island, was moved to Agilkia Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qubbet el-Hawa</span> Archaeological site in Egypt

Qubbet el-Hawa or "Dome of the Wind" is a site on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Aswan, that serves as the resting place of ancient nobles and priests from the Old and Middle Kingdoms of ancient Egypt. The necropolis in use from the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt until the Roman Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid of Teti</span>

The pyramid of Teti is a smooth-sided pyramid situated in the pyramid field at Saqqara in Egypt. It is the second known pyramid containing pyramid texts. Excavations have revealed a satellite pyramid, two pyramids of queens accompanied by cult structures, and a funerary temple. The pyramid was opened by Gaston Maspero in 1882 and the complex explored during several campaigns ranging from 1907 to 1965. It was originally called Teti's Places Are Enduring. The preservation above ground is very poor, and it now resembles a small hill. Below ground the chambers and corridors are very well preserved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid of Userkaf</span> Egyptian pyramid

The pyramid complex of Userkaf was built c. 2490 BC for the pharaoh Userkaf, founder of the 5th Dynasty of Egypt. It is located in the pyramid field at Saqqara, on the north-east of the step pyramid of Djoser. Constructed in dressed stone with a core of rubble, the pyramid is now ruined and resembles a conical hill in the sands of Saqqara. For this reason, it is known locally as El-Haram el-Maharbish, the "Heap of Stone", and was recognized as a royal pyramid by western archaeologists in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil Mallaby Firth</span> British Egyptologist

Cecil Mallaby Firth was a British Egyptologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Museum of Sudan</span> Museum for the history of Sudan

The National Museum of Sudan or Sudan National Museum, abbreviated SNM, is a two-story building, constructed in 1955 and established as national museum in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemaka</span>

Hemaka was an important official during the long reign of the First Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Den. Radiocarbon dating research undertaken during the 1950s suggested a date for Hemaka lifetime ca. 3100 BC. One of Hemaka's titles was that of "seal-bearer of the king of Lower Egypt", effectively identifying him as chancellor and second in power only to the king.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney</span> English peeress

Mary Rothes Margaret Cecil, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney, was a British hereditary peer, charity worker, amateur archaeologist and ornithologist. Thirty-two of the Tombs of the Nobles at Aswan were uncovered in her excavations and for many years were known as the "Cecil Tombs". She was one of the few English women to have held a peerage in her own right. The black crowned crane, Balearica pavonia ceciliae was named in her honour.

The archaeology of Ancient Egypt is the study of the archaeology of Egypt, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history. Egyptian archaeology is one of the branches of Egyptology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum at the Lowest Place on Earth</span>

The Museum at the Lowest Place on Earth is an archaeological museum located in the Ghor es-Safi, Jordan.

The Jerash Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Jerash, Jordan. The museum is committed to preserving various historical artifacts from the Jerash Governorate. It is one of the oldest museums in Jordan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia</span> 1960–80 relocation project in Egypt and Sudan

The International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia was the effort to relocate 22 monuments in Lower Nubia, in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan, between 1960 and 1980. This was done in order to make way for the building of the Aswan Dam, at the Nile's first cataract, a project launched following the 1952 Egyptian Revolution. This project was undertaken under UNESCO leadership and a coalition of fifty countries. This process led to the creation of the World Heritage Convention in 1972, and thus the system of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

References

  1. Cecil Mallaby Firth; Battiscombe George Gunn (1 June 2007). Excavations at Saqqara: Teti Pyramid Cemeteries. Martino Pub. ISBN   978-1-57898-651-4.
  2. "Aswan Museums and Art Galleries: Aswan, Egypt". www.aswan.world-guides.com. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  3. "متحف أسوان : جولة في التاريخ المصري على ضفاف جزيرة الفنتين". waybakmachine. 2020-05-17. Archived from the original on 2020-06-19.
  4. "بالصور.. وزير الآثار يقرر فتح متحف "الفنتين" فى أسوان أمام السائحين". Wayback Machine. 2016-04-02. Archived from the original on 2020-06-19.

24°05′5″N32°53′12″E / 24.08472°N 32.88667°E / 24.08472; 32.88667