Egypt Guide
Alexandria and the Mediterranean coast
Greco-Roman Museum
Website: www.grm.gov.eg
The Greek Quarter's most famous building is the Greco-Roman Museum, whose Classical facade by Leopold Deitrich Bey (1892) is visible at the far end of Rue du Musée. Home to Egypt's best collection of Classical antiquities, the museum is closed until 2008 for refurbishment. Its reopening date and future layout are uncertain, but some of its extensive collection will be on display at other museums in the meantime. When it reopens you will be able to see such treasures as a mummified crocodile, human mummies dating from c.100–250 AD, relics of the Serapis cult promoted by Ptolemy I, and death masks, statues and busts of Roman emperors, including Julius Caesar. In the museum garden are some tombs cut from rocks and a giant head of Mark Antony. While the Greco-Roman Museum is closed, the Alexandria National Museum has been making all the running.