Conceived as a repository for Egypt's most significant archaeological, ethnographic, and craft traditions, the NMEC encompasses a broad scope of civilization's development in the Nile Valley. Its curatorial approach integrates material culture with scientific research and multimedia presentations. The museum's architecture and exhibition design, by Ghabbour Architects and international consultants, reflect a commitment to accessibility, conservation, and scholarly engagement. Its holdings exceed 50,000 items and present a diverse range of media, including statuary, textiles, manuscripts, and funerary assemblages.

The NMEC organizes its permanent collection into specialized thematic halls that highlight distinct aspects of Egyptian history and its diverse cultural expressions.

circa

The architecture of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization reflects a deliberate synthesis of contemporary design principles with an emphasis on spatial clarity and functional circulation. Designed by Ghabbour Architects in collaboration with international museum planners, the complex is organized around a central atrium that acts as a visual and orientational axis, linking the principal galleries and service areas through a coherent, radial plan. The building’s subdued, rectilinear massing integrates local materials and muted color palettes, ensuring a visual harmony with the surrounding landscape of Fustat.

Within the interior, double-height ceilings and broad galleries enhance sightlines and foster intuitive wayfinding, while strategically placed glazing and skylights introduce diffused natural light to public and transitional spaces. Conservation laboratories, research facilities, and climate-controlled storage are concealed within the structure’s periphery, allowing exhibition halls to maintain strict environmental standards without disrupting visitor flow. Throughout the design, careful attention to scale, proportion, and acoustics underscores the museum’s commitment to accessibility and the seamless presentation of its chronologically and thematically arranged collections.

circa

Main Gallery
The central exhibition, often referred to as the Main Gallery, is structured chronologically, beginning with prehistory and progressing through the Pharaonic, Graeco-Roman, Coptic, and Islamic periods into the modern era. Each section integrates archaeological material with interpretive panels and immersive audio-visual elements. The design emphasizes continuity and interaction between successive cultural phases rather than presenting isolated, epoch-specific displays.

circa

Textile Hall
Dedicated to Egypt’s centuries-long tradition of textile production, the Textile Hall presents garments, tapestries, embroidery, and weaving tools spanning Pharaonic linen, Coptic tunics, medieval Islamic fabrics, and modern embroidered pieces. Scientific analyses of fiber, dye, and weaving techniques feature prominently alongside didactic materials that highlight the trade networks, craft guilds, and social functions of textile production and consumption across different periods.

circa

Hall of the Royal Mummies
The Royal Mummies Hall, inaugurated alongside the Pharaohs’ Golden Parade transfer in 2021 CE, exhibits twenty-two royal mummies from the New Kingdom period onward. This hall follows strict conservation protocols concerning temperature, light, and humidity, simulating a mortuary ambiance intended to evoke both reverence and scholarly study. Interpretive texts and digital presentations contextualize embalming practices, genealogy, and the historical circumstances surrounding the reigns of these monarchs.

circa

Medieval Textile Dye House
In addition to interior galleries, the museum integrates outdoor installations that underscore the continuity of material culture across time and highlight overlooked aspects of everyday life. Among the open-air components is the reconstruction of a medieval textile dye house based on archaeological findings from Old Cairo. This installation presents the architectural footprint of a traditional craft workshop, including its vats and drainage channels. Accompanying signage outlines the historical techniques of dye extraction from plant and insect sources, the social status of craft guilds, and the role of this industry in urban economic networks of the medieval period.

circa 2589-2566 BCE

Armchair of Queen Hetepheres I
The armchair of Queen Hetepheres I, dating to the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (reigned circa 2589–2566 BCE), is a masterwork of early dynastic furniture discovered as part of the queen’s funerary assemblage in her pyramid. Constructed of cedar wood and originally adorned with gold foil and intricate inlays of faience and ebony, its design reflects both the material wealth and technical expertise of royal workshops at Giza. The chair features elegantly shaped legs imitating those of a lion, an aesthetic convention that alludes to regal power and protective symbolism, while its mortise-and-tenon joinery demonstrates advanced woodworking techniques. Found within the tomb of Hetepheres at Giza, it was previously displayed in the Egyptian Museum, now moved to the NMEC, this piece offers scholars a significant example of elite domestic furnishings and provides insight into the funerary customs and artisanal capabilities of the Old Kingdom court.

circa 1450 BCE

Statue of Thutmose III

circa 1390 BCE

Chariot of Thutmose IV
The chariot of Thutmose IV, displayed at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, exemplifies elite New Kingdom craftsmanship and the technological sophistication of royal transport during the Eighteenth Dynasty (reigned circa 1401–1391 BCE). Constructed of lightweight wood, leather, and gilded elements, it features intricate painted and inlaid decoration that emphasizes solar and martial symbolism, including protective deities and royal titulary. Analysis of its construction reveals advanced joinery and shock-absorption features that permitted mobility across diverse terrains, while its iconography celebrates Thutmose IV’s divine kingship and military prowess. Preserved as part of the funerary assemblage intended for his afterlife use, the chariot provides scholars with valuable insight into Egyptian material culture, workshop practice, and the interplay between royal ideology and technological innovation in the mid–Eighteenth Dynasty.

circa 1320 BCE

Sennedjem Collection
The Sennedjem Collection comprises an exceptionally well-preserved assemblage of funerary goods from the Theban tomb TT1 of Sennedjem, a "Servant in the Place of Truth"—a craftsman active during the reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II in the New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty (circa 1295–1186 BCE). Transferred in September 2019 from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, the collection features Sennedjem’s ornately painted anthropoid coffin and mummy board, which depict him in a linen kilt and wig, accompanied by protective goddesses and Book of the Dead scenes. Scientific analysis of the craftsmanship reveals skillful woodworking and pigment application, with iconography of Isis, Nephthys, the Four Sons of Horus, and the Tree Goddess offering funerary provisions.

The collection also includes canopic boxes and mummiform coffins for Sennedjem’s family, ushabti figures designed to serve him in the afterlife, as well as cosmetic chests, stools, furniture, and ostraca — among them a fragment of the Story of Sinuhe. Many of the shabti boxes bear inscriptions naming family members such as Paramnekhu, Khonsu, Khabekhnet, Iyneferti, and Mose, with Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead carved into their surfaces. Together, this funerary assemblage offers scholars and visitors a vivid case-study of burial customs, artisanal skill, and filial devotion in New Kingdom Deir el-Medina, while its prominent display at the NMEC integrates Sennedjem’s personal history into a broader narrative of Egyptian mortuary practices and belief.

circa 1295-1168 BCE

Statue of Hapi the Scribe
This sandstone statue, dating to the Nineteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom (reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II, circa 1290–1213 BCE), depicts Hapi, an official responsible for the administration of the Amun temple estates at Karnak in modern day Luxor. The figure is shown in a seated posture, holding an unrolled papyrus, a conventional iconographic element signifying his role as a literate bureaucrat engaged in temple management and record-keeping. Stylistic features, including the treatment of the wig, facial proportions, and formal pose, align with established sculptural conventions of the period, which emphasized both status and piety. The statue’s medium—local sandstone—further reflects the regional workshop practices of Upper Egypt during the Nineteenth Dynasty, while its subject matter underlines the centrality of administrative personnel in sustaining the cult and economy of Amun at Karnak.