Downtown DistrictAlexandria Governorate
العربية
MuseumsAlexandria National Museum

MuseumsThe cosmopolitan city

Alexandria National Museum

Once a palace on Tariq El Horreya, this museum tells chapters of Egypt’s and Alexandria’s history across three floors.

The cosmopolitan city
Late-1920s palace — museum since 2003
Opening hours
Daily 9:00–17:00 (ticket office closes 16:00)
Tickets
Separate Egyptian and foreign tariffs; student discount
Administrative section
Bab Sharqi
Open in maps(External link)Its place in time

Image credits

What sets it apart

A 1920s Italianate villa set in a garden; underwater finds from Abu Qir Bay.

5 documented memories

Its place in time

The cosmopolitan city · 1860 – 1950

The district at the height of its plurality: Greek, Italian, French, Levantine, Jewish and Armenian communities; the tram, theatres, hotels and cafés; classical, Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings.

  1. Fouad Street — the Canopic Way331 BC — the Canopic Way
  2. Roman Theatre at Kom El DikkaRoman era, most likely 4th century — uncovered in 1964
  3. Shallalat GardensOn the line of the 9th-century wall, under Ibn Tulun
  4. Remains of the Alexandria City Wall9th century — under Ibn Tulun
  5. Misr Railway StationThe railway from the 1850s — present building 1927
  6. Mahatet El Raml & Saad Zaghloul SquareFrom 1863 — the Ramleh line’s terminus
  7. The Alexandria Tram1863
  8. Eliyahu Hanavi SynagogueRebuilt in the 19th century — foundation plaque dated 1881
  9. Graeco-Roman Museum1892
  10. The Statue of Nubar PashaUnveiled in 1904, according to a museum record
  11. The Windsor Palace Hotel1906, by the hotel’s own account
  12. Cavafy MuseumCavafy’s home from 1907 to 1933
  13. The Lycée Al-Horreya1909–1910 — the Shatby building from 1913
  14. Sayed Darwish Theatre — Alexandria Opera House1921 — the Mohamed Ali Theatre
  15. Alexandria National MuseumLate-1920s palace — museum since 2003
  16. The Cecil Hotel1929
  17. Museum of Fine Arts1954
  18. Bibliotheca Alexandrina2002
  • Ancient Alexandria331 BC – 7th century AD
  • The Islamic centuries7th century – 1805
  • The Mohamed Ali revival1805 – 1860
  • The cosmopolitan city1860 – 1950
  • Contemporary Alexandria1950 – today
The façade of the Sayed Darwish Theatre — Alexandria Opera House — with the bronze statue in front of it
Before it in timeSayed Darwish Theatre — Alexandria Opera House1921 — the Mohamed Ali Theatre
The façade of the Cecil Hotel on Saad Zaghloul Square, palms in front of it
After it in timeThe Cecil Hotel1929

Highlights

  • 1Recovered underwater antiquities
  • 2The chronological display
  • 3The palace building and garden
  • 4The Coptic collection

The story

  1. The building was put up in the late 1920s as an Italianate palace for Asaad Basili Pasha, one of Alexandria’s wealthiest men, who lived in it until 1954. According to press accounts, the US Embassy then bought it for its consulate, which stayed until the mid-1990s. In 1996 the Supreme Council of Antiquities bought the building and turned it into a museum, which opened on 31 August 2003.

  2. The displays move through successive periods: pharaonic collections in the basement, Greek and Roman on the ground floor, and Coptic, Islamic and modern above. This arrangement helps visitors follow connections between the collections.

  3. It holds some 1,600 to 1,800 objects, depending on the source. Objects recovered from the Eastern Harbour and Abu Qir Bay connect the city’s history on land with its submerged remains.

  • The Alexandria National Museum in its Italianate palace on Tariq El Horreya
    The Alexandria National Museum in its Italianate palace on Tariq El Horreya

Memories of the place

Every memory is taken from a published, documented source.

  1. 1928Sources differ on this date

    The building was put up as an Italianate palace for Asaad Basili Pasha, one of Alexandria’s wealthiest men. Most sources give 1928; some give 1926 or 1929.

  2. 1954

    Asaad Basili Pasha lived in the palace until 1954, when the US Embassy bought it to house its consulate in Alexandria.

  3. 1996

    The Supreme Council of Antiquities bought the building and later converted it into an archaeological museum.

  4. 31 August 2003

    The museum opened to the public.

  5. 2019

    National Geographic reported that an early Hellenistic marble statue found in Shallalat Gardens in 2009, which its excavator links to Alexander the Great, was on show at the museum.

Around it

© OpenStreetMap

Nearby landmarks

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