Munich - State Collection of Egyptian Art

(Local Name: Staatliche Sammlung ãgyptischer Kunst) The State Collection of Egyptian Art in Munich is housed on the ground floor of the Residenz, on either side of the passage leading to the Kaiserhof. One of the oldest museums of its kind, it grew out of the collections assembled by Duke Albrecht V and King Ludwig I. During the 20th C. it acquired much additional material from donations. The present museum also contains the Egyptian antiquities formerly held by the Glyptothek.

The collection covers the whole range of ancient Egyptian history - the Pre-dynastic period (4500-3000 B.C.), the Period of Unification (about 3000 B.C.), the Old Kingdom (fifth and sixth Dynasties, 2660-2160 B.C.), Middle Kingdom (11th-13th Dynasties, 2040-1160 B.C.) and New Kingdom (18th-20th Dynasties, 1550-1080 B.C.), the Late period (25th-30th Dynasties), the Graeco-Roman period (700 B.C. to the end of the third century A.D.) and the Coptic period (fourth-ninth century A.D.). Items on display include sculptures and reliefs, weapons, jewelry and ornaments, cult objects, domestic and other implements, sarcophagi, papyri and textiles.

Among those of particular interest are:

A limestone statue of a seated female figure from the earliest temple precinct at Abydos (Period of Unification).

A thin-walled goblet of green slate (Period of Unification).

A granite group of Dersenet and his family, false doors from the Tomb of Meni, and slaughtering scenes from the Tomb of Ni-auch-nesent at Sakkara (Old Kingdom).

A copper figure of a naked man and a cult image (bronze and gold) of the crocodile god Sobek (Middle Kingdom).

A limestone lion's head, the head of a sphinx (Amenophis II), squatting figure of a high priest of Amun, and a hoard of weapons from Sichem (New Kingdom).

A bronze figure of Osiris and the gold treasure of Queen Amani-sha-heto from a pyramid at Meroe in the Sudan (Late period).

A glass figure of a youth (intarsia work) and painted pottery (Coptic art).