The best museums Nile Valley

A beautiful, well laid-out museum, where the art of mummification is presented step by step. Along with the Luxor Museum, this is one of Egypt's most important museums, behind only the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Opened in 1997, the museum explains the 70-day mummification process. During your visit, you'll discover the curiosities of this ancestral rite, such as the stellar origin of the instruments or the social exclusion suffered by the workers. A human mummy and mummified animals are also on display.

Located on the cornice leading to Karnak, in a modern building, it houses a small but splendid collection of pieces of rare quality. The interior layout, carried out by a team from the Brooklyn Museum in New York, is an undeniable success: the scenography is clear and perfectly organized.

Entrance hall, works from the 18th dynasty - colossal head of Amenophis III in red Aswan granite; the features of this head are particularly round, giving the whole a gentle air to the king. - Statue of Amon in limestone; the main god of the Theban Triad is represented under the triads of King Tutankhamun, whose youth and vigour can be felt. - Hathor's head in blackened wood enhanced with gilded copper horns; this head is part of the treasure of King Tutankhamun's tomb, most of whose works are kept in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Room of the "hiding place" (ground floor): works found together in the court of Amenophis III - Monumental statue of Amenophis III in red granite; touching composition magnifying the youth and beauty of the smiling king

Great Hall (ground floor): a majority of works from the 18th dynasty - painted bas-relief of Thutmes III in limestone and pigments; the freshness of the colours of this relief is striking and gives a true picture of what the colourful walls of the temples were like. - Statue of the god Sebek and King Amenophis III; it is rare to see the god Sebek, of the triad of Kom Ombo, represented, and the staging of the statue inspires fear and respect. - Colossal head of Sesostris III (12th dynasty) in red granite; a fine example of Egyptian statuary, which sometimes represented its rulers unvarnished, tired, marked by the years like this head.

New room(ground floor): - Mummy of Ahmosis, founder of the 18th dynasty, originally from Thebes; - Mummy of Ramses ^I, back from a long journey.

Great Hall - Talatat Wall (first floor): this wall built by Akhenaten had been destroyed and the stones used for the 9th Pylon of Karnak; it has been reconstructed and reassembled and depicts four scenes of domestic life, work in the workshops, the ritual procession and worship in the sun. - A display case contains other objects that were found in Tutankhamen's tomb, including the touching golden rosettes that decorated the cloth of his sarcophagus. - Monumental heads of Akhenaten.

One of the great achievements undertaken by UNESCO to safeguard the Nubian heritage, this museum opened its doors at the end of 1997. Entirely built in pink granite, it houses splendid pieces from Nagada 1 and 2 to Islamic and Christian Nubia. The name Nubia currently applies to the region stretching from the city of Aswan in the north to Debba.

It possessed important riches: gold, copper, semi-precious stones and amethyst. It was also the passage point for products from Equatorial Africa such as ivory, incense, eggs and ostrich feathers

Nubia has never been geographically isolated from Egypt, but it was not until 1899 that Lower Nubia was attached to Egypt, a British treaty ending the disputes caused by Mohammed Ali.

In 1907, the first Aswan Dam was built. On 8 March 1960, Unesco launched an appeal for an international expedition to save the Nubian monuments. Philae, Abu Simbel and the others will be moved, and Ancient Nubia will be flooded, forcing its inhabitants to emigrate to the north.

Such a civilization, charged with such an ancient history, had of course a priceless heritage characterized by the architecture of its habitat, its craftsmanship and its artistic expression.

The Nubia Museum traces the existence of this people step by step. The exhibition portrays the rich history of this region, which during the Hellenic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic periods retained its full identity.

Built on the road leading to the great Aswan Dam, it is impossible to miss this imposing and strange building whose architect seems to be inspired by a mixture of Nubian art and Soviet style. In the tradition of propaganda museums developed by every Egyptian president, the latter, inaugurated in early 2016, pays a heartfelt tribute to former Marshal Abdel Fattah al Sissi, elected two years earlier. But for once, there is no question of the greatness of the Egyptian army. The hero is the Nile, represented at the entrance by a fountain that rises to the ceiling. The eleven African flags, hung all around, are a reminder of the continuum that exists between these countries and the solidarity that should flow from it.

Right wing: a tribute to the Aswan dams. After the medals awarded by Nasser and the USSR to the builders of the 1964 dam, an ancient Egyptian waxwork takes a break. Without further explanation, the window next door displays a letter from Nasser celebrating the Aswan Dam and a letter from al Sissi praising the Nile Museum. The massive models of the 1898 and 1964 dams are of great interest. It is easy to see that the older one let more water through thanks to its hundred or so small openings, whereas the new dam has only about forty small windows. A junk shop window in the corridor follows, where different types of national pride are jostling for position.

Left wing: memorial objects. The fashion for holograms also seems to have reached Egypt. The first is Alaa Bacha Mubarak, the inventor of the Qanater dams north of Cairo. The second, in the background, is the Minister of Irrigation at the inauguration of this museum. The room is dotted with objects belonging to some countries of the Nile basin and technologies that were used in the construction of the Aswan dam.

^1st floor. The eleven "brother" countries were asked to furnish it, but the small number of donations says a lot about the political divisions that remain deep. It is, all the same, the only space in the museum where the daily life of the people of the Nile is evoked through paintings by Egyptian artists. Crowded aquariums close the visit.

Archive library. Open on request, it is a gold mine for those looking for archive photos, old newspaper articles and original maps of the Aswan Dam

This introduction to Nubian daily life and the history of the region is highly recommended. It will give you an understanding of the conflicts in the community and the complex relations with the Egyptian authorities. Aware that the Nubian heritage was in danger of disappearing, Mohammed and his wife Fatma took it upon themselves to build this small museum on the ground floor of their own house. Mohammed will show you all the objects from a Nubian house, a series of stuffed animals from Lake Nasser and Nubian stones.

The site consists of a small museum and the archaeological site of Egyptian ruins.

Museum. Interesting collection of pharaonic statuettes, pottery and jewellery.

Archaeological site. Excavations have uncovered objects dating back to Thutmosis III (18th Dynasty). It is here that the temple of Khnum was erected but destroyed in the 19th century by Mohammed Ali.

Nilometer. Several times restored, this scale of measurement dates from the cartouches of Amenophis III