Nubia Museum

The Nubia Museum was built to house the finds from excavations in Nubia. It opened formally in 1997 as part of the international UNESCO campaign to save the Nubian monuments. The building was praised for the way it fits into Aswan’s landscape and won the Agha Khan Award for Architecture in 2001.

Since it opened, the museum has been widely praised for its varied collection and modern displays. More than 3000 objects trace the history and civilisation of southern Egypt (Nubia) from prehistory to the present day.

Highlights

The displays follow Nubia’s story in order, starting with prehistoric tools and rock art and moving through the pharaonic, Christian and Islamic periods to recent times. Things worth looking for:

• Statues and objects linked to the kingdom of Kush, whose kings ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty
• Models and photographs of the international campaign of the 1960s that moved the temples of Abu Simbel and Philae to higher ground before Lake Nasser filled
• Displays on Nubian village life, with clothing, jewellery, household objects and a full-size model of a traditional Nubian house
• The landscaped garden around the building, with a stream and a reconstructed Nubian house

The museum also helps explain what was lost when the High Dam flooded old Nubia and many Nubian families were moved to new villages.

Visiting tips

Give yourself one and a half to two hours, plus time in the garden. The museum is in the south of Aswan, close to the Unfinished Obelisk and the Fatimid Cemetery, so the three fit well together in a morning or afternoon.

It is a good place to start a stay in Aswan, before you visit Philae or make the trip to Abu Simbel, because it gives the background to both. If you have time, a visit to one of the Nubian villages on the West Bank later in the day rounds off the picture.