The best museums Sahara

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.

A small museum featuring the habitat, costumes and tradionnels objects of the Tuareg and the Songhai peoples. See if you have some time.

Tozeur's Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions is a charming little museum housed in a former marabout. In these few rooms, Souad and her husband welcome you with all their heart, as if they were receiving friends. The museum is small, but very cute. The bridal room is particularly pretty, and the old kitchen full of traditional objects. Souad knows Tozeur and its history inside out, and is sure to enliven your visit with songs and poems.

In this small museum with its traditional architecture, you'll discover a facet of Siwi culture. It's the place to be if you want to get to know it better. However, if you don't have time to visit in the morning, it's advisable to arrange a private tour through the tourist office. You'll find all the traditional objects, culinary, domestic and decorative, that make this oasis a very special place in the Egyptian landscape.

Designed by the Memory of Africa Association, this museum traces the history of the mysterious city from its origins to today.

Khailil Ibrahima Touré is a man of culture. His love of tradition led him to display in this house dating from the th century traditional objects from the Arab-Berber culture. From the women's room to the kitchen, through the arms room, here is a perfect rebuilding of the old way of life. Dames, cowries of divinations, musical instruments, not forgetting arms, handcuffs of traditional prisoners and costumes, the visit is interesting and well explained. It is the most beautiful museum in Timbuktu.

A small museum on the history of Gafsa, quite interesting for history lovers. The collections are divided into two groups: the first is made up of tools (in flint and carved stone or bone) from the prehistoric period, which are linked to the Capsian culture, while the second brings together various pieces (statues, ceramics, mosaics, etc.) from the Roman, Byzantine and Vandal periods. Two mosaics in particular, that of Venus fishing and that of the athletic games and pugilism, are particularly beautiful!

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.

The museum is located next to the Commonwealth Cemetery. It displays collections of weapons, uniforms of both armies, as well as guns and documents relating to the battle. Models reconstruct the evolution of the fighting from 23 October to 4 November 1942. It's all very moving.

The museum consists of five rooms. The first, called the "common room", contains glass boxes containing items from all the countries that took part in the Battle of El-Alamein. Life-size statues of the main players in this battle are on display. In the middle of the room there is a huge wooden table on which a map of the battlefield is drawn up, with the positions of the armies.

The 4 others are each dedicated to one of the countries involved in these battles, Egypt, England, Germany and Italy.

Outside the building is exposed the large military equipment: tanks, heavy artillery, vehicles ...

Mahmoud Eed, a Bedouin artist from Bawiti, presents traditional handicrafts and makes naive figurines. Inspired by the artist Badr from Sarafra, he shapes clay to represent life in the oasis. Dioramas about the region are also on display. A visit to his museum takes no more than 10 minutes. It is free, but if you want to leave something, or even buy a piece of work (the handmade silver jewellery could be a very nice souvenir gift) it will undoubtedly please him.