Egyptian Museum of Berlin

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File:Neues Museum Aegyptischer Hof.jpg (1862)]]

The museum originated in the 18th century from the royal art collection of the Hohenzollern kings of Prussia.{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/180755/Egyptian-Museum-and-Papyrus-Collection|title=Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=24 April 2010}} Alexander von Humboldt had recommended that an Egyptian section be created, and the first objects were brought to Berlin in 1828 under King Friedrich Wilhelm III. Initially housed in Monbijou Palace, the department was headed by the Trieste merchant Giuseppe Passalacqua (1797–1865), whose extensive collections formed the basis. A Prussian expedition to Egypt and Nubia led by Karl Richard Lepsius in 1842–45 brought additional pieces to Berlin.

In 1850, the collections moved to its present-day home in the Neues Museum, built according to plans designed by Friedrich August Stüler. The Nefertiti Bust, discovered during the excavations by Ludwig Borchardt in Amarna, was donated to the museum by the entrepreneur Henri James Simon in 1920; it quickly became its best-known exhibit. After World War II, during which the Neues Museum was heavily damaged by strategic bombing, the collections were divided between East and West Berlin. The main part remained in East Berlin and was displayed at the Bode Museum, while those artifacts evacuated to West Germany, including the Nefertiti Bust, returned to West Berlin. From 1967 to 2005, these items were housed vis-à-vis Charlottenburg Palace. The whole collection was reunited again after the Reunification of Germany, when it returned to Museum Island.

The collection contains artefacts dating from between 4000 BC (the Predynastic era) to the period of Roman rule, though most date from the rule of Akhenaten (around 1340BC).{{cite web|url=http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/sammlungen/details.php?lang=en&objectId=2|title=Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection|publisher=Staatliche Museen zu Berlin|access-date=24 April 2010|archive-date=2 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702044305/http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/sammlungen/details.php?lang=en&objectId=2|url-status=dead}}

The most famous piece on display is the exceptionally well preserved and vividly coloured bust of Queen Nefertiti. The collection was moved from Charlottenburg to the Altes Museum in 2005 and was rehoused within the newly reconstructed Neues Museum on Berlin's Museum Island in October 2009.

The museum is home to at least 23 mummified ancient Egyptians. In the 2020s the CT scans were performed on the mummies as part of a study into the mummification of hearts. At the same time the CT scans were examined to try and establish the mummified individuals sex and the age at which they died.{{cite journal |last1=Panzer |first1=Stephanie |last2=Paladin |first2=Alice |last3=Zesch |first3=Stephanie |last4=Rosendahl |first4=Wilfried |last5=Augat |first5=Peter |last6=Thompson |first6=Randall C |last7=Miyamoto |first7=Michael I. |last8=Sutherland |first8=M. Linda |last9=Allam |first9=Adel H. |last10=Wann |first10=L. Samuel |last11=Sutherland |first11=James D |last12=Rowan |first12=Chris J. |last13=Michalik |first13=David E. |last14=Hergan |first14=Klaus |last15=Zink |first15=Albert R |title=Preservation of the heart in ancient Egyptian mummies: A computed tomography investigation with focus on the myocardium |journal=Clinical Anatomy |publisher=Wiley |volume=37 |issue=5 |date=2 April 2024 |issn=0897-3806 |doi=10.1002/ca.24151 |pages=587–601|pmid=38566474 }}

File:Kalabsha Gate, ca. 30 BCE, Scharf-Gerstenberg Museum, Berlin (2) (40205520311).jpg| Kalabsha Gate, from the Temple of Kalabsha, donated as part of the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia

File:Girl with a cat.jpg|Figure of a girl with a cat and standing figure of a young woman, 18th Dynasty, {{Circa|1380}} and 19. Dynasty, Abusir el Meleq and Thebes

File:Head of Ptolemy X, from Egypt, Ptolemaic period, 2nd century BCE. Neues Museum, Germany.jpg|Head of a statue of king Ptolemaios X (reign 110–88 BC)

File:Nefertiti Standing-striding Berlin.jpg|Standing Figure of Nefertiti

File:Portrait head of one of the daughters of Akhenaton and Nefertiti from a composite statue 09.jpg|{{ill|Head of Amarna Princess|de|Kopf der Figur einer ägyptischen Prinzessin (Berlin 21223)}}

File:ReliefPortraitOfAkhenaten02.png|{{ill|Relief Portrait of Akhenaten|de|Reliefskizze mit Kopf des Echnaton (Berlin 21863)}}

File:Tai-tai, the priest.jpg|Tai-tai, the Priest. New Kingdom, Eighteenth Dynasty, 1380 BC

File:Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their children.jpg|Akhenaten and Nefertiti with their children. Amarna Period, 1350 BC

File:QueenTiy01-AltesMuseum-Berlin.png|Queen Tiye, Amarna Period, 1355 BC

File:Berlin Green Head - Neues Museum - Berlin - Germany 2017 (2).jpg|Berlin Green Head, 100-50 BC

File:Amenemhat III Berlin 01.JPG|Statue of Amenemhat III (Berlin)

• List of museums of Egyptian antiquities

{{commons category|Ägyptisches Museum Berlin}}

• [https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/aegyptisches-museum-und-papyrussammlung/home/ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection]
• [https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/neues-museum/home.html Neues Museum Berlin]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160307032103/http://xn--gyptisches-museum-berlin-pbc.de/a01.php?&sprache=en Society for the Promotion of the Egyptian Museum Berlin] (archived)
• [https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=%C3%84gyptisches+Museum+Berlin&m=text Flickr – Photos taken in the Egyptian Museum]

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{{Museum Island, Berlin}}

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Category:1828 establishments in Prussia

Category:Egyptological collections in Germany

Category:Archaeological museums in Germany

Category:Museum Island

Category:Museums established in 1828

Category:Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Category:Museums in Berlin

Category:Frederick William III of Prussia