The National Museum of Alexandria: A Journey Through the Millennia of the Legendary City
The National Museum of Alexandria is one of the most important cultural institutions of Egypt, a place where the extraordinary history of one of the most legendary cities of the ancient world is told through over 1,800 artefacts that embrace a time span of about five thousand years. Inaugurated on 1 September 2003 by President Hosni Mubarak, the museum is housed in an elegant Italian-style palace carefully restored, located in the heart of the European quarter of Alexandria along Tariq al-Horreya street, the ancient Canopic Way that constituted the maximus decumanus of the Ptolemaic and Roman city.
The museum is not simply a collection of ancient objects: it is a coherent and compelling narration of the history of Alexandria, from the foundation by the hand of Alexander the Great in 331 BC to the modern era, passing through the Ptolemaic, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Ottoman and colonial eras. Each hall is a chapter of this narration, and each artefact is a word that helps to understand the complexity and richness of this city unique in the world.
The Building
An Italian Palace Reborn
The building that houses the museum was constructed in 1926 as the private residence of the rich timber merchant Asaad Bassili Pasha, in a style that reflected the cosmopolitan tastes of the Alexandrian elite of the time. The architecture is that typical of the Italianate palaces that characterised the European quarter of the city, with symmetrical facades, wrought iron balconies, decorated ceilings and marble floors.
After decades of decay, the palace was purchased by the Egyptian government and subjected to a careful restoration that restored its original splendour. The decision to transform the palace into a museum proved particularly happy: the domestic spaces, with their human dimensions and their discreet elegance, create an intimate atmosphere that favours the direct relationship between the visitor and the exhibited artefacts.
The Organisation of the Spaces
The museum develops on three floors, each dedicated to a macro-era of Alexandrian history. The basement floor houses the artefacts of the pharaonic era, the ground floor is dedicated to the Greco-Roman era and the first floor covers the Coptic, Islamic and modern eras. This vertical arrangement creates an ascending chronological route that is also a symbolic route: from the depth of the most ancient Egyptian roots one rises towards the surface of modernity.
The Collections
The Pharaonic Era
The basement floor of the museum houses artefacts that tell the history of the Nile Delta region and of the Alexandrian area before the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great. Among the most significant pieces figure statues of Egyptian deities, painted sarcophagi, funerary amulets and objects of daily use coming from excavations conducted in the region.
Of particular interest is the collection of faience statuettes that represent deities and votive figurines, as well as a series of ushabti (funerary figurines destined to serve the deceased in the afterlife) that illustrate the evolution of Egyptian funerary art over the course of the millennia. Some artefacts come from the city of Rhakotis, the Egyptian fishing village that preceded the foundation of Alexandria and that was incorporated into the urban plan of the new city.
The Greco-Roman Era
The ground floor, dedicated to Ptolemaic and Roman Alexandria, is the heart of the museum and houses the most spectacular artefacts. This period, which covers about seven centuries from the foundation in 331 BC to the Arab conquest in 642 AD, was the golden age of the city, when Alexandria was the cultural and intellectual capital of the Mediterranean world.
Among the masterpieces exhibited figure the extraordinary Tanagra statuettes, terracotta figurines of exquisite workmanship that depict women and men of Alexandrian daily life with a realism and an elegance that anticipate by centuries the modern artistic sensibility. The Roman mosaics, recovered from the excavations of Kom el-Dikka and from other urban sites, show mythological and decorative scenes of great chromatic refinement.
The section dedicated to underwater archaeology is particularly exciting. The artefacts recovered from the seabed of the eastern harbour, where the remains of the Ptolemaic royal quarter and of the legendary Lighthouse lie, include statues, columns, capitals and ritual objects that offer a unique glimpse of the magnificence of the submerged city. A colossal granite head, attributed to a statue of Isis or of Cleopatra, is one of the most photographed pieces of the museum.
The Coptic and Byzantine Era
On the first floor, the Coptic section documents the passage from paganism to Christianity that profoundly transformed Alexandria in the first centuries of the Christian era. The Coptic textiles, with their vivid colours and their elaborate decorations that mix Egyptian, Greek and Christian motifs, are among the most beautiful of Egypt. The icons, the crosses and the liturgical objects testify to the richness of the Alexandrian Christian tradition, which gave the world thinkers like Clement, Origen and Athanasius.
The Islamic Era
The Islamic section tells the transformation of Alexandria after the Arab conquest of 642 AD. Glazed ceramics, blown glass, coins, astronomical instruments and metal artefacts illustrate the contribution of Islamic civilisation to the history of the city. Of particular interest are the ceramics with lustred decoration, a technique developed in Egypt during the Fatimid period that represents one of the highest expressions of medieval ceramic art.
The Modern Era
The modern section documents the rebirth of Alexandria in the 19th and 20th century under Muhammad Ali and his successors. Historical photographs, documents, coins and personal objects of the Egyptian royal family complete the museum route, connecting the ancient past to the present of the city.
The Most Significant Artefacts
The Underwater Finds
Among the most important pieces of the museum number the artefacts of underwater archaeology, coming from the campaigns conducted in the eastern harbour of Alexandria. These finds, which include architectural fragments of the Ptolemaic Royal Palace and probably of the Lighthouse itself, have revolutionised the understanding of the topography of ancient Alexandria.
The Tanagra Figurines
The Alexandrian Tanagra statuettes are small masterpieces of elegance and grace. Made in terracotta and originally polychrome, they depict veiled women, dancers, musicians and theatre actors with an attention to detail and to gesture that makes them true portraits of the daily life of Hellenistic Alexandria.
The Roman Mosaics
The Roman floor mosaics, coming from private villas and public buildings, show an extraordinary technique in the use of the polychrome tesserae. The depicted scenes range from mythology to daily life, with a richness of detail that allows reconstructing aspects of the domestic life and of the religious beliefs of the Alexandrians in the imperial era.
Tips for the Visit
How to Get There
The museum is located along Tariq al-Horreya street, the main east-west artery of Alexandria, easily reachable by taxi or by tram. The nearest tram stop is a few steps from the entrance. The museum is located in the heart of the European quarter, surrounded by cafes, restaurants and shops.
Duration and Route
Dedicate at least two hours to the visit to appreciate the richness of the collections. The recommended route follows the chronological order from the basement floor to the first floor, allowing to live the history of Alexandria in sequence. The captions are in Arabic, English and sometimes in French. An expert guide can enormously enrich the experience.
Practical Suggestions
Photography without flash is generally permitted in the permanent halls. The museum is air-conditioned, a welcome relief in the summer months. Visit the museum shop to purchase high-quality reproductions of the exhibited pieces and specialist publications on the history of Alexandria.
Combined Itinerary
The National Museum lends itself perfectly to being the starting or arrival point of a cultural itinerary that includes the nearby Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa and the Roman Amphitheatre of Kom el-Dikka. This combination offers a complete understanding of the multilayered history of Alexandria.
The National Museum of Alexandria is a window open onto five thousand years of human history, a place where the majesty of the pharaohs, the refinement of the Ptolemies, the imposingness of Rome, the spirituality of the Copts and the creativity of Islamic civilisation meet under the same roof, telling the story of a city that has been, in every era, a crossroads of civilisations and a beacon of culture.
