The Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst

The Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst (State Museum of Egyptian Art) is one of the most important Egyptian museums worldwide. Its focus is on works of art, in particular the three-dimensional sculptural works of ancient Egypt. All eras, from pre-history over the classical periods of the Old, Middle and New Empires up to the Late Period and the Greek and Roman times are presented by means of monuments. In addition, the cultures of ancient Sudan (Nubia) as well as of the Coptic period of late antiquity are represented, complemented by Egyptianising works of art from the Roman Empire and monumental reliefs from Assyrian Mesopotamia.

The museum is based on the diverse collections amassed by Bavarian rulers and by the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Bavarian Academy of Sciences). In particular Duke Albrecht V (1550–1579), Elector Karl Theodor (1777–1799) and King Ludwig I (1825–1848) acquired Egyptian works of art. The works gathered together were preserved in several locations in Munich, for example in the Glyptothek (Sculpture Collection) on Königsplatz and in the Antiquarium of the Residenz (Residence). Since 1935, they had been stored as "Ägyptische Sammlungen" (Egyptian Collections) in the Residenz and were partially displayed. In 1970, the Freistaat Bayern (free state of Bavaria) installed a dedicated museum, which up to the year 2013 remained inside the Residenz.

In 2013, a new museum opened within the Münchener Kunstareal (an area of Munich's Maxvorstadt dedicated to art museums) opposite the Alte Pinakothek (Old Masters' Gallery). The architecture of the new building is an integral part of the museum's overall concept.

The main sculpture halls follow programmatic themes such as "art and form" or "art and time". The tour of the museum guides the visitors towards other relevant topics, for example "Pharaoh" or "chronology" essential for the understanding of Egyptian art. Connected are the exhibition rooms dedicated to "afterlife" and "religion" – architecturally transparent to "art and time". The second part of the tour is characterised by the low ceilings in the exhibition and is dedicated to "art – craftsmanship" and thus the material foundations of Egyptian art. It opens with sections on "Egypt and Rome", "Late Antiquity", "Nubia and Sudan", as well as "Assyrian Reliefs" the characteristically wide thematic view of the Munich collections well beyond the traditional borders of an Egyptian museum. In this flight of exhibition rooms, the media room and a special gallery for partially sighted visitors, "Touching Egypt", can be found.

This structural concept of content will be embedded on three levels within the new rooms: audio-visual display technique, lighting and media development.

The media development of the exhibition is in the special focus of the museum. The original collectibles retain their power: cards present short explanations, background information (graphics, photos) is excluded from the primary appearance of the exhibition and has been transferred into a digital system of interactive free-standing media stations positioned across space.

A cooperation with the Institut für Ägyptologie der Universität München (Institute of Egyptology at Munich University) incorporates the museum within a network of scholarship and education. From 2013, the museum has been actively engaged in fieldwork with its own excavation and documentation project in the royal city of Naga in northern Sudan. For more information, please visit naga-project.com.

• The objects of the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst available on bavarikon

Collections owned by the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst available on bavarikon

• Art and culture of ancient Egypt