Among its masterpieces are Pharaoh Tutankhamun's treasure, including its iconic gold burial mask, widely considered one of the best-known works of art in the world and a prominent symbol of ancient Egypt.

[3] They remained there until 1902 when they were moved again to the current museum in Tahrir Square, built by the Italian company of Giuseppe Garozzo and Francesco Zaffrani to a design by the French architect Marcel Dourgnon.

In 1848, Muhammad Ali Pasha assigned Linan Bek, the Minister of Education, to compile a comprehensive report on archaeological sites and send artifacts to the Egyptian Museum.

The trade in antiquities resurfaced, and the collection housed in the museum established in Azbakeya began to shrink until it was transferred to a single hall in the Citadel of Saladin.

The situation worsened when Khedive Abbas I donated the entire contents of this hall to Duke Maximilian of Austria during his visit to the citadel.

This dire situation led Khedive Ismail to offer one of his palaces in Giza, the location of the present-day zoo, to serve as the new museum.

The foundation stone was laid on April 1, 1897, in the presence of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, the Prime Minister, and all his cabinet members.

This operation involved the use of five thousand wooden carts, while large artifacts were transported by two trains, making about nineteen round trips between Giza and Qasr El-Nil.

The transfer was completed by July 13, 1902, and Mariette's tomb was moved to the museum garden in accordance with his wish to be buried among the artifacts he had spent much of his life collecting.

The new museum adopted an exhibition style based on a gradual arrangement of halls, without allocating rooms for periods of turmoil, as they were considered historically insignificant.

When asked about this, Maspero replied that the Egyptian Museum was a reflection of a pharaonic tomb or temple, where every part of the space was used to display paintings or hieroglyphic inscriptions.

[20] This included the establishment of a cultural center and an administrative-commercial annex on the western side of the museum, where informal settlements were removed.

The German Foreign Ministry funded the necessary studies and scientific research, and the International Environmental Quality Association participated in the implementation of the initiative to restore the museum to its original condition.

The project was completed by 2016, after restoring the eastern and northern wings, addressing lighting issues, and reorganizing the display of valuable artifacts.

Abu Ghazi played a crucial role in preparing catalogues, increasing international exchanges, and expanding the library, which eventually grew to its current two-story size with two reading rooms and a storage area for publications.

The library houses over 50,000 books and volumes, including rare works on ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern archaeology, along with other specialized fields.

[30] Hawass later told The New York Times that thieves looking for gold broke 70 objects, including two sculptures of the pharaoh Tutankhamun and took two skulls from a research lab, before being stopped as they left the museum.

[34][35] Photography is not allowed inside the museum due to the negative effects of camera flashes on the small artifacts' colors.

Visitors can also rent an audio guide inside the museum for 25 EGP, providing detailed information about the displayed artifacts.

[61] Collections are also being transferred to the not-yet-open Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, including all the artifacts found inside Tutankhamun's tomb.

[19] "Among the reasons that the GEM itself was conceived, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir has been criticized for being overcrowded, displaying pieces in a way that is said to make the experience cumbersome for visitors.

It features a monument to Auguste Mariette, surrounded by 24 busts of the following egyptologists: François Chabas, Johannes Dümichen, Conradus Leemans, Charles Wycliffe Goodwin, Emmanuel de Rougé, Samuel Birch, Edward Hincks, Luigi Vassalli, Émile Brugsch, Karl Richard Lepsius, Théodule Devéria, Vladimir Golenishchev, Ippolito Rosellini, Labib Habachi, Sami Gabra, Selim Hassan, Ahmed Kamal, Zakaria Goneim, Jean-François Champollion, Amedeo Peyron, Willem Pleyte, Gaston Maspero, Peter le Page Renouf[62] and Kazimierz Michałowski.