The Luxor Museum of Ancient Egyptian Art celebrated, on Saturday, its 45th anniversary. The museum features about 3,000 artefacts from the ancient city of Thebes, located along the River Nile.
Celebrating its anniversary, the Museum held a temporary exhibition in coordination with the Egyptian American archaeological mission in El-Assasif Necropolis, located near Luxor. The exhibition will feature a newly discovered pyramidion in El-Assasif Necropolis.
The museum was established specifically to revive the artistic legacy of Thebes, which was established in the Predynastic period in 3000 B.C and remained until the Islamic period. It also includes unparalleled assemblage of artefacts from the early reign of King Amenhotep IV, later called Akhenaten, and his wife Nefertiti.
One of the most important galleries in the museum is the “Luxor Temple Cachette” gallery. It was a lecture hall at the time of the museum’s inauguration in 1975, and in 1991 it was converted into a gallery for the artefacts discovered in the famous Luxor Temple Cachette in 1989.
One of the featured items in the collection is a calcite double statue of the crocodile god Sobek and the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III.
The newly unearthed pyramidion will be on display in a special exhibition until June 2021. It was discovered by the South Assasif Conservation Project.
Head of the Luxor Museum, Alaa Menshawi, said that the pyramidion is carved in sandstone and bears engravings depicting worshiping scenes of god Osiris and Rahurakhti, as well as an image of boats.
Descriptive panels from the South Assasif Conservation Project are also on display.
The museum’s galleries are on two levels, which are connected by two ramps. The latest museum display methods have been used to show the artistic beauty of the exhibits. These rely entirely on artificial lighting, a background of dark grey walls and ceilings, and simple stands for the objects.
