The Luxor Museum is nowhere near as big as the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but it was never meant to be, choosing instead to display quality rather than quantity. A visit to this museum is included in some, but not all of our Egypt tour packages. While several of our Nile River cruises also include a visit to the museum, not all of them do. It can however be added to any one of our tour itineraries if requested.

Luxor Museum interior.

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The Museum of Luxor is located more or less right in the center of Luxor, overlooking the Luxor west bank of the Nile River. Visitors who intend to visit the museum in shouldn’t expect to see anything along the lines of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo because the two places are quite literally worlds apart.

While the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo is host to the world’s largest collection of Egyptian antiquities, Luxor Museum only has a relatively small collection, but it’s definitely worth visiting. When the museum was originally opened in 1975 there were no plans to house a massive collection of artifacts. Instead, the museum has a sort of “quality before quantity” policy.

Visiting The Luxor Museum

From the moment you step through the front doors at the museum in Luxor, it becomes apparent that the museum takes much pride in displaying only the finest antiquities, all of which have come from nearby archeological sites. While the number of items on display is nowhere near to what can be seen in Cairo, one should keep in mind that the museum still houses roughly one third of the world’s Egyptian artifacts. Not surprisingly, it is considered to be one of the top Luxor tourist attractions, and one which is certainly worth visiting.

The museum’s 55 meter long façade faces the Nile River, thereby affording visitors with a fantastic view of the river and the west bank from inside the museum.

Most Notable Displays At The Museum

The first sight to greet arriving visitors is a huge gilded head of Hathor, the Egyptian God of Beauty. This statue was recovered from the tomb of King Tutankhamen located in the Valley of the Kings. On moving past this, visitors will come to an open air garden that features a fascinating collection of statues all dating back to the time of the New Kingdom. Also on display in the garden are a large granite head of Amenhotep III and a remarkable carved figure of Tuthomosis III.

Once the first floor of the museum visitors are treat to a stunning collection of antiquities, including a large collection of artifacts that were collected from the tomb of King Tutankhamen. The first floor is also home to several other collections, including one which dates back to days of Akhenaton. There is also a small wall on display that was built using 283 sand bricks collected from the Temple of Akhenaton which once stood at the Karnak Temple complex.

The Luxor Museum is also home to a collection of 26 extremely well preserved statues that were discovered buried near to the famous Luxor Temple. In 2004 an extension was added to the museum, and amongst other things, this is used for the Royal Mummy display which consists of two mummies, that of pharaoh Amose I and that of pharaoh Ramesses I.

These days the museum also displays an interesting Coptic collection as well as an Islamic collection that features pieces dating back to the Mamluk period. The museum is open to visitors every day from 9AM to 2PM and again from 4PM to 10PM.

If you are going to be booking one of our Nile cruises from Luxor to Aswan or one of our Nile cruises from Aswan to Luxor, your tour itinerary may already include a visit to Luxor Museum, but even so, it is always a good idea to confirm this when you make your tour reservation.