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Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
back to sights listingThe Petrie Museum is one of the largest and most fascinating collections of Egyptian archaeology anywhere in the world. This is a university museum. It was set up as a teaching resource for the Department of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College London (UCL). Both the department and the museum were created in 1892 through the bequest of the writer Amelia Edwards. Amelia Edwards donated her collection of several hundred Egyptian antiquities, many of historical importance. However, the collection grew to international stature in scope and scale thanks mainly to the extraordinary excavating career of the first Edwards Professor, William Flinders Petrie. Petrie excavated literally dozens of major sites and in 1913 he sold his large collection of Egyptian antiquities to UCL, thus creating one of the largest collections of Egyptian antiquities outside of Egypt. The collection and library were arranged in galleries within the university and a guidebook published in 1915. The export of antiquities from Egypt and the Sudan is now illegal and the collection has ceased to grow. Its importance was officially recognized in 1998 when it was designated by the UK government as 'of outstanding importance'. Now the Petrie Museum houses an estimated 80,000 objects, making it one of the greatest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology in the world. It illustrates life in the Nile Valley from prehistory through the time of the pharaohs, the Ptolemaic, Roman and Coptic periods to the Islamic period. The collection is full of 'firsts': One of the earliest pieces of linen from Egypt (about 5000 BC); two lions from the temple of Min at Koptos, from the first group of monumental sculpture (about 3000 BC); a fragment from the first king-list or calendar (about 2900 BC); the earliest example of metal from Egypt, the first worked iron beads, the earliest example of glazing, the earliest 'cylinder seal' in Egypt (about 3500 BC); the oldest wills on papyrus paper, the oldest gynaecological papyrus; the only veterinary papyrus from ancient Egypt, and the largest architectural drawing, showing a shrine (about 1300 BC). Costume is another highlight of the collection. In addition to the 'oldest dress' there is a unique beadnet dress of a dancer from the Pyramid Age, about 2400 BC, two long sleeved robes of the same date; a suit of armour from the palace of Memphis (awaiting reconstruction), as well as socks and sandals from the Roman period.
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