2017-10-16 Sanctuary Sunboat 1V, Luxor to Hotel Four Seasons, Cairo, Egypt

We have an early start this morning departing the Sanctuary Sunboat IV and then arriving at the airport for our flight to Cairo at 6.30 am

By 10 am we have been collected at Cairo International Airport by an Abercrombie & Kent representative, Mohamed with a driver called Ali

It is not long before we experience some busy Cairo traffic

After a brief visit to check in to our hotel in Giza, we are again collected by our driver, Ali and a local guide to be taken to the Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Museum is one of the most popular places to visit in Cairo, as we could tell on our arrival…

Our local guide Lamia has excellent English and a great knowledge of her country’s history which will be invaluable for us while in Cairo

A map of the River Nile and the places we have visited in the past seven days

On the ground floor of the museum we view a number of well preserved ancient sarcophagi

We continue upstairs to visit the Royal Mummy Rooms

We next visit a comprehensive exhibition of the treasures and items discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun, which was discovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter, a British Egyptologist

This young man who was visiting the museum appeared to be a well known personality from the attention he was receiving from other local visitors……perhaps a musician or an actor

The tomb of the young 18 year old Tutankhamun was discovered full of beautiful objects, jewelry and furniture

A photograph of part of the contents of the Tutankhamun’s Tomb

Many pieces of amazing jewelry was also discovered in the tomb which are on display at the Egyptian Museum

Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus (a box-like stone container) held not one but three coffins in which to hold the body of the king. The outer two coffins were crafted in wood and covered in gold along with many semiprecious stones, such as lapis lazuli and turquoise. The inner coffin, however, was made of solid gold

The second coffin was crafted in wood and covered in gold

The famous solid gold 10.23 kg death mask of Tutanhamun which is one of the most recognised artifacts of Egyptian history. The mask was part of the inner most coffin of the young Pharaoh who died at the age of 18

We next continue back downstairs to see other ancient Egyptian coffins and the collection of famous statues held by the museum

This is a rare sandstone statue of Pharaoh Mentuhotep of the 11th dynasty who reigned 2135 BC. It was found in his mortuary temple west of Luxor, beside Queen Hatshepsut’s temple built 500 years later

This is the most famous wooden statue of the noble Kaaper also known as the great priest belonging to the Old Kingdom. When discovered the face reminded the workers of their Chief of the Village so the statue became Sheikh El Balad, named after the Chief

Known as the Scribe, this statue is from the Dynasty IV. Ancient Egyptians considered the scribe to be the highest of professions as he was close to the Pharaoh because of his wisdom and knowledge