Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo

No visit to Egypt is complete without spending time wandering the galleries and rooms of the Antiquities Museum in Cairo. Unfortunately, many itineraries only allow a few hours to explore the more than 120 000 objects in 107 halls. Unless you are a resident of Cairo and have the leisure to return again and again, it is impossible to see everything. So it is important that visitors have a plan.

For a quick overview of 3000 years of Egyptian history in chronological order, you can move clockwise around the Ground Floor, but it is best to view only the objects of the early dynasties, then at the end of the western corridor, proceed to the Upper Floor which is arranged in themes and features special exhibitions. Among these is the collection of the stunning treasures discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter in 1922. This display is spread over a large part of the Upper Floor (rooms 4 and 25, galleries 9, 25,30,35,40 and 50 and hall 10). This could be followed by a visit to the eerie, temperature-controlled Royal Mummy Room, also on the Upper Floor, that allows you to come face to face with eleven of the greatest rulers of ancient Egypt, including Ramesses II. These bodies are remarkably preserved and displayed in glass cases with detailed descriptions as to cause of death. The presentation is tasteful and does not take too long to reverently pay your respects to these great pharaohs.

For those with more than two hours to spare, there is so much more to see and the following is a list of some of these other significant objects and displays.

1. The Narmer Palette - This pictorial document represents symbolically what the Egyptians regarded as a 'First Time' event in their history: the political union of the 'Two Lands of Upper and Lower Egypt'. It is also a record of early Egyptian kingship (Lower Floor, room 43).
2. The painted limestone statue of King Djoser - Djoser was the builder of the Step Pyramid and this is believed to be the oldest life-size statue found in Egypt (Lower Floor, room 43).
3. The Meidum Geese - This magnificently coloured panel of painted plaster, in near pristine condition, reveals the technical ability and observational skills of the leading artists of the day and is the earliest ornithological record in history (Lower Floor, room 32).
4. The life-sized double-statue of prince Rahotep and his wife Nofret - The marvellously preserved double-statue is one of the earliest examples of members of the court who were involved in the construction of the pyramids.
5. The enthroned statue of King Khafre with Horus falcon - This stunning statue is carved from hard diorite and is the ideal manifestation of an Old Kingdom monarch (Lower Floor, room 42).
6. The exceptional bust of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) - This room also features a beautiful unfinished head of Nefertiti and other examples of the revolutionary art of the Amarna period (Lower Floor, room 3).
7. The priceless 7.5 centimetre-high ivory statuette of King Khufu - This is the smallest royal statue ever found and the only portrait of the supposed builder of the Great Pyramid (Upper Floor, hall 48).
8. The furniture and possessions of Queen Hetepheres - Hetepheres was the most influential and powerful female of the Old Kingdom and her elegant possessions are of the highest quality workmanship. They comprise the most important finds from the old kingdom (Upper Floor, room 2)
9. The unique Middle Kingdom painted wooden models - These models are almost perfectly preserved and provide an intimate three-dimensional view of how the Egyptians lived and worked. They are like a modern snap-shot of a life long vanished (Upper Floor, rooms 27 and 37)
10. Faiyum mummy portraits - These realistic mummy faces, usually painted on primed wooden panels, are exceptional because they combine Egyptian symbolism, Greek pictorial technique and the social context of the Romans. They engage the modern viewer by the directness of their gaze and their evocation of a long-gone society (Upper Floor, room 14)

It is impossible to see even a small part of what is in the Egyptian Museum in the time allocated for most tours. It is better to appreciate a few treasures than leave feeling stunned, remembering little of what you have seen.