Pics: Military museums open for free on Sinai Liberation day

CAIRO – 25 April 2018: Egypt’s Armed Forces announced that military museums and shrines would open to the public for free on Wednesday, the 36th anniversary of the liberation of Sinai.

This comes as part of the Armed Forces’ effort to raise and spread awareness, patriotism and military culture amid youth, to acquaint them with the glories, championships and sacrifices of Egyptians.

Here is the list of military museums that you could visit:

1 - Museum of Alamein Military

The Al-Alamein War Museum is located on the Alexandria-Marsa Matrouh road. It comprises five halls which narrate the story of the Second World War in North Africa, and each of them is dedicated to one of the four countries which are involved in the war: Egypt, Germany, Italy and Great Britain.



Museum of Alamein Military, May13, 2011 – Wikimedia/Heather Cowper

The fifth hall is called the Mixed Hall because it displays the entire collections of memorabilia, guns, uniforms, photos and maps. It also has a part which tells the history of each country and why they were involved in the war.

Additionally, the Alamein’s guardian has huge army tanks, artillery, vehicles and various large and heavy equipments and weapons used by different forces in the battlefield of Al- Alamein.

2 - Port Said War Museum

It was established on an area of approximately 7000 meters squared which is located at July 23 Street, El Arab, Port Fouad, at Port Said governorate. It was inaugurated in 1964 after Egypt’s victory against the tripartite aggression of France, Britain, and Israel on the city of Port Said in December 1956, as a witness to the intrepid people of Port Said in defense of their homeland.


Aircraft of MIG 16 within Port Said War Museum, November 2017 – Wikimedia/Ahmed.m.hanfy

The Port Said Museum hosts a large collection of military tools, equipments, Israeli tanks, guns and some parts of military aircrafts. There is an open exhibition area which contains various collections of weapons seized in the wars of 1956 and 1973 and it also includes some archaeological weapons from the Mohamed Ali era.

Furthermore, it has four halls. The first hall displays the historical overview of the city of Port Said and valuable information about Port Said in ancient and Islamic era. The second one includes various artworks that tells the story of the Suez Canal and the plate announcing the presidential decree of nationalizing the Suez Canal as well as the pivotal role of the canal in the history of Egypt’s politics, military and economy.

The third hall tells the victory of the people of Port Said on Dec. 23, 1956 against three great countries; France, Britain and Israel. It also includes some portraits of Egyptian heroes who resisted the aggression and various weapons from the tripartite aggression
The fourth hall contains different equipment from the war of October 1973, and pictures of Egyptian troops while crossing the Suez Canal with the intention of pushing the Israelis out of the Sinai Peninsula.

3 – October 6 Panorama Museum

It is situated on Salah Salem Road in Nasr City, and was opened on Oct. 5, 1989 by ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak. It has an open exhibition area which includes two platforms: one of them is used to display some Egyptian Armed Forces’ weapons used during the October War in 1973, and the other platform displays some equipment seized from war.


The 6th October panorama museum, October - Wikimedia/Daniel Mayer

The main building of the museum has halls, the first hall depicts the works and efforts of the Egyptian Armed Forces since 1967 until 1973, whilst the other hall includes a theater which shows a documentary film called “The Road to Victory” which explains how Egyptians crossed Bar Lev Line. The third hall displays and explains the role and the effort exerted by the main three branches of the Armed Forces during the October 1973 war and also has a historical library.

4 – Egyptian National Military Museum

The museum was established in 1936 at the old building of the Egyptian Ministry of Defense in Al Falaki Street at Cairo governorate then it was relocated to a temporary location in the Garden City district of Cairo.


Soviet-Built Egyptian MiG-21F displayed in the Egyptian National Military Museum in Cairo Citadel, March 2009, - Wikimedia/LeCaire

In 1948, the national military museum transferred into Cairo Castle in accordance with the instructions of Colonel Abdul Rahman Zaky and it opened in November 1949 while it was rehabilitated and developed by the cooperation between Egypt and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 1990. It was officially reopened by former President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak in 1993.

The military museum is one of the largest military museums in the world and it is a specialized museum which contains various sections that recorded the history of the Egyptian military and the development of Egypt’s weapons and equipments.

Additionally, it presents documentary films about the role and the bravery of the Egyptian soldiers throughout Egypt’s history. The National Military Museum’s courtyard has a statue of one of Egypt’s historic military heroes, Ibrahim Pasha, who was the son of Mohamed Ali Pasha.