the GEM

 Just a week before we went to Egypt, the grand opening of the GEM, the Grand Egyptian Museum, was held.  We were lucky enough to spend almost an entire day at the museum during our time in Cairo.  

In the museum they have nearly all of the treasures discovered in the tomb of King Tut.  King Tut, rightly Pharoah Tutankhamun, became a Pharoah at age nine and died at 19, of illness, not murder as was once believed.  He is remembered more for what he left behind than for what he accomplished in life.  His tomb was the only one found that had never been robbed, so it gave archaeologists the best idea of how lavish the burials had been. Here's a sampling of what was found there:

This is one of several gold plated coffins in which his mummy was entombed. One inside the other like Russian dolls.

This is the side of one of four large sarcophaguses in which the coffin was contained, again one inside the next. Each box was covered in gold.

Some of the figures (servants for the afterlife) found in the tomb, made of gold and precious stones.

This is our guide, Ahmed, who really deserves mention in this saga.  He was with us from our first day in Cairo through the entire trip.  Like all of the guides we encountered he was an Egyptologist which means he had at least a bachelors level degree in Egyptian history.  We learned so much from him.  He had a boundless enthusiasm for all things Egyptian.  

This is a view of some architectural details of the GEM.

Another of the gold covered sarcophaguses.