Museo Egizio ★★★

Magnificant museum that holds the world's largest Egyptian collection outside of Cairo

This was, in fact, the world's first Egyptian museum, thanks to the Savoys' habit of ardently amassing artifacts throughout their reign, and the museum continued to mount collecting expeditions throughout the early 20th century. Of the 30,000 pieces on display, some of the more captivating exhibits are in the first rooms you enter on the ground floor. These include the 15th century b.c. Rock Temple of Ellessiya, which the Egyptian government donated in gratitude for Italian efforts to save monuments threatened by the Aswan Dam. The two nearby statuary rooms are staggering both in the size and drama of the objects they house; notable among the objects are two sphinxes and a massive, richly painted statue of Ramses II. Smaller objects—mummies, funerary objects, and a papyrus Book of the Dead—fill the galleries on the next floor. The most enchanting exhibit here is the collection of everyday paraphernalia, including eating utensils and shriveled foodstuffs, from the tomb of the 14th-century b.c. architect Khaie and his wife.

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