Cairo

Libraries and Museums

The Greater Cairo Library, housed in a restored villa in Zamalek, is over 100 years old. Its holdings include books in Arabic, German, French, and English. A research library, its collection contains only non-circulating items, but its operating hours are extensive. It has good collections in the areas of art and science, as well as international periodicals. Included in its map collection

Tutankhamun's (d. c. 1340 B. C. ) death mask, along with his tomb and other artifacts are on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. ()

are hand-drawn maps of Cairo dating back to 1480.

The Mubarak Library is located in Giza. Opened in 1995, it provides a popular library of circulating materials, with a large collection of books, magazines, newspapers, CDs, cassettes, and videos. Special services include story hours and puppet shows for preschoolers. There are also two libraries in the suburb of Heliopolis. The older Heliopolis Public Library offers organized programs for children and has a high-tech multimedia auditorium. The newer El Mustaqbal Library has only non-circulating materials. English-language books are available in libraries at the British Council and the American Cultural Centre. Cairo University has a central library, additional libraries for various disciplines, and some 100 scientific research centers.

Cairo's cultural legacy is evident in its rich and varied museum collections. The Egyptian Museum at Maydan Tahrir houses the city's premier collection of over 100,000 artifacts from nearly every period of Egyptian history. The museum's neoclassical building, which dates from 1902, has received updated security and lighting following a daring 1996 robbery attempt, and there has long been talk of building a new facility that can more adequately house the museum's voluminous holdings. Among these holdings are the treasures of Tutankhamun (d. c. 1340 B. C. ), a royal mummy room, artifacts from the Old and Middle kingdoms, jewelry rooms, and animal mummies.

The Coptic Museum, located in Misr al-Qadimah, displays items from the pre-Islamic period, including textiles, stones, and religious icons. A church on the museum grounds, popularly known as the Hanging Church, is said to date back to the fourth century A. D. and is thought to be the earliest place of Christian worship in Cairo. The renovated Museum of Islamic Art, in Bab Zuweyla, houses brass, wood, glass, inlaid items, textiles, carpets, and fountains from the Mamluk and Ottoman

Tourists can find the Giza Pyramids grazing the skyline in the outskirts of the city. ()

eras, as well as Mamluk Korans and illuminated manuscripts.

Other museums in Cairo include the War Museum, the Egyptian National Railways Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and National Military Museum, as well as a post office Museum, an agricultural museum, and a carriage museum.