Hurghada Travel Guide : Hurghada Museum

Hurghada Museum Things to do in Hurghada

Hurghada Museum is the first antiquities museum in al‑Bahr al‑Ahmar (Red Sea) Governorate. It is also the first museum of its kind, in that it is the fruitful result of a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, al‑Bahr al‑Ahmar (Red Sea) Governorate and the private sector.

The construction of the museum was funded by the private sector, The museum contains 2000 artifacts that tell story of Egypt, from the Ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Jewish, to the Christian, Islamic, and Modern eras. These objects underline the museum’s theme, which is to present the concept of beauty in Egypt.

Hurghada Museum is not only the first antiquities museum in Red Sea Governorate, but also the first museum that is the result of a joint project between the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, al‑Bahr al‑Ahmar (Red Sea) Governorate, and the private sector.

The Pharaonic Era

The Gallery Main Hall of Hurghada Museum also contains a pharaonic cemetery designed to simulate the mountainous nature of the tombs and contains coffins and pharaoh mummies.

Hurghada Museum is interested in filling the visitor with the whole feeling and spirit of old civilizations from all the different ages of Egypt. So you will feel that you went back by time machine to discover all these civilizations.

Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River, situated in the place that is now the country Egypt.

Ancient Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3100 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology) with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Menes (often identified with Narmer).

The history of ancient Egypt occurred as a series of stable kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods: the Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.

In exact terms the area refers to the “Mediterranean world”, the extensive tracts of land centered on the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins, the “swimming-pool and spa” of the Greeks and Romans, i.e. one wherein the cultural perceptions, ideas and sensitivities of these peoples were dominant.

This process was aided by the universal adoption of Greek as the language of intellectual culture and commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and of Latin as the tongue for public management and forensic advocacy, especially in the Western Mediterranean.

GRECO-ROMAN

Greek-Roman Period CleopatraThe Macedonian/Greek army of Alexander the Great occupied Egypt in 332 BCE, and the young Alexander declared himself pharaoh. Alexander’s generals, including a man named Ptolemy, split up his empire when he died.

Greece in the Roman era describes the period of Greek history when Ancient Greece was dominated by the Roman Republic (509 – 27 BC), the Roman Empire (27 BC – AD 395), and the Byzantine Empire (AD 395 – 1453).

The Roman era of Greek history began with the Corinthian defeat in the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC.

The Coptic Era

The “Coptic period” is an informal designation for Late Roman Egypt and Byzantine Egypt. This era was defined by the religious shifts in Egyptian culture to Coptic Christianity from ancient Egyptian religion until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century.

The period began in about the 3rd century and, depending on sources and usage, lasted until around the noticeable decline of Christianity in Egypt in the 9th century, or to the arrival of Islam in the 7th century.

Although the term “Coptic period” is utilized in popular discourse, its use in academia is generally avoided due to its imprecise nature, whereas “Late Antiquity” or “Byzantine Egypt” can be defined on chronological grounds.

ISLAMIC PERIOD

The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the world’s classical knowledge into Arabic and Persian.

This period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Siege of Baghdad in 1258 AD.

A few scholars date the end of the golden age around 1350 AD,while several modern historian and scholars place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries. (The medieval period of Islam is very similar if not the same, with one source defining it as 900–1300 CE.)

MODERN EGYPT

Mohamed Ali Pasha Family

According to most scholars the history of modern Egypt dates from the emergence of Muhammad Ali’s rule in the early 19th century and his launching of Egypt’s modernization project that involved building a new army and suggesting a new map for Egypt.

The definition of Egypt’s modern history has varied in accordance with different definitions of Modernity. Some scholars date it as far back as 1516 with the Ottomans’ defeat of the Mamlūks in 1516–17.

Muhammad Ali’s dynasty became practically independent from Ottoman rule, following his military campaigns against the Empire and his ability to enlist large-scale armies, allowing him to control both Egypt and parts of North Africa and the Middle East.