Alexandria National Museum - Min. of Tourism & Antiquities
CAIRO – 30 August 2022: On August 30, the Alexandria National Museum will organize a variety of artistic events to celebrate the 19th anniversary of its opening, which falls annually on August 31.
Head of the Museums Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities Moamen Othman said that the events include theatrical performances presented by the museum as a product of its theater workshops that were recently organized to target children and youth from the age of 8 to 20 years.
The museum is also organizing an educational workshop in cooperation with the Alexandria Center for Maritime Archeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage of the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University, in addition to a musical performance in the museum's garden on the evening of September 1.
Supervisor of the Alexandria National Museum Ashraf el-Qadi explained that the museum houses some 1,600 artifacts that from all the historical eras of Egypt's civilization, cultures, arts and industry, from the era of the ancient Egyptian Dynasties through the Ptolemaic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic eras, to the modern era, which begins with the rule of Mohammad Ali Pasha in Egypt and ends with the July Revolution of 1952.
Among the most prominent artifacts on display at the museum are the statue of King Amenemhat III, the statue of King Thutmose III, the head of the statue of King Akhenaten, the statue of Queen Hatshepsut, the head of a statue of Alexander the Great, a statue of the deity Serapis, and statues of the Roman emperors Caracalla and Hadrian.
It is worth noting that the Alexandria National Museum was a palace owned by Asaad Bassili, a wealthy Alexandrian, who commissioned the famous Italian architect Victor Arlinger to build it.
Asaad Pasha Bassili resided in the palace until 1954, then the United States’ Embassy bought it and it became the headquarters of the American Consulate. In 1996, the Supreme Council of Antiquities bought it and turned it into a museum.
The building is located on an area of 3674 square meters. The idea of establishing a national museum for the city of Alexandria was the first step to transform that palace into a national museum. It was officially opened on August 31, 2003.
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