The Luxor Museum is perfectly located on the Luxor corniche (Nile-front promenade) between Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. This museum is much smaller than Egyptian Museum in Cairo but that’s not a bad thing. It’s well-organized and free of clutter, with beautifully displayed artifacts documented in both Arabic and English. (The Cairo Museum is not to be missed, for sure, but the contents seem to have been tossed about with little thought to ease of viewing.)
Exhibits span 3,000 years of Egyptian history, with concentration on the New Kingdom. Modern Luxor is ancient Thebes, which was the political and religious capital of Egypt during its golden age in the New Kingdom. Items from this time and place are among the most important of all Egyptian artefacts and the Luxor Museum has a fine collection.
The museum displays some really exquisite statues, including a cache discovered in 2004 buried in Luxor Temple. Other highlights include treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamen, the mummies of two pharaohs and objects from the heretical Amarna period (when the pharaoh Amenhotep IV declared the sun disk Aten to be the supreme god, changed his name to Akhenaten and built a new capital, Akhetaten/Amarna, 250 miles to the north).
Akhenaten (the elongated face is a feature of the revolutionary Amarna art style)
Besides artefacts, the museum has wonderful exhibits demonstrating the daily life of ancient Egyptians.
Visit the museum, Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple and the Valley of the Kings for a well-rounded experience.
The Ya'lla Blog 