MUSEUM OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART

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.