Mummification Museum
๐ Location: Luxor East Bank corniche, between the Winter Palace and Luxor Temple ย ยท ย ๐บ Focus: Mummification process ย ยท ย ๐๏ธ Tickets: ~150 EGP foreign adults
The compact Mummification Museum in Luxor is the only museum in the world devoted entirely to the art and science of mummification. Built into the side of the corniche so visitors descend below river level, its single elongated gallery takes you step by step through the 70-day embalming process used by Egyptian priests: from the moment of death, through the removal and canopic-jar storage of the internal organs, the natron-drying of the body, the resining and wrapping, the placing of amulets, and finally the funerary ritual at the tomb.
The objects on display make the abstract process vivid: actual bronze embalming tools, beautifully carved canopic chests, a complete set of shabti figurines, animal mummies (including a 6-m crocodile of the god Sobek), and the well-preserved 21st-Dynasty mummy of the priest Maserharti. Wall panels explain the religious thinking behind each step โ particularly the journey of the ba and ka (the soul's mobile and life-force aspects) through the afterlife.
Highlights
- Step-by-step display of the mummification process
- Bronze embalming tools
- Painted canopic chests and amulets
- The mummy of priest Maserharti
- Animal mummies including a giant crocodile
Visiting
- Opening hours: 9 am โ 5 pm (later in summer)
- Tickets: ~150 EGP foreign adults
- Best time: in the heat of the afternoon, when other sites are uncomfortable
- Nearby: Luxor Temple, Karnak, Luxor Museum