Tracing the History of Museums in Egypt from the Ptolemaic Period to the Fall of Mohamed Ali’s Dynasty (323 BC – AD 1952)

Establishing museums was an ancient tradition that was only revived at the beginning of the Renaissance period. In the distant past, Egypt was the home of the first institution-termed museum that was founded and very well maintained by the early Ptolemies. In the modern era, its rulers of Mohamed Ali’s dynasty sought to accentuate the power of the state by founding various types of museums that were for the most part the first of their kind in the region. Under the monarchy, museum notion witnessed a dramatic change. Such institutions were mostly used as powerful tools to inspire the public in the course of nation building, so as to finally form a distinctive modern Egyptian identity, which is in fact the outcome of long episodes of various successive eras. Besides unfolding the past, museums foster the sense of national allegiance among the public and reflect the modernity of the state of its time; therefore, this article aims to explore the history of the Egyptian museums from ancient to modern times until 1952.