The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

City Life

Cairo’s Hidden Gems: The Animal Museum

animal animals cairo city city life egypt Egyptians Giza Giza Zoo The Animal Museum
Cairo’s Hidden Gems: The Animal Museum
written by
Sherif Khairy

Egypt is famous for its many museums. And while some get all the limelight such as the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, others are not so fortunate, despite evidently deserving equal fame. One of these museums is the Animal Museum in the Giza Zoological Garden. Established in 1914 and holding lots of gorgeous pieces, it will make you wonder how you haven’t heard of it before.

The Giza Zoo is an 80-acre space that was opened to the public back in 1891, but despite it being a huge zoo with tons of attractions, over time, it has lost a lot of its allure. Fortunately, the Animal Museum still stands tall after more than a 100 years. The museum holds many rare mummified animals, as well as skeletons and skulls.

Over the years, the Animal Museum has seen renovations, including new panoramas that have been added for more displays of wild animals and birds. It works perfectly as an entertaining and educational museum, as well as a scientific reference for students in taxonomy.

The three big halls contain displays of large groups of all the animals you can imagine, including birds, reptiles, and even fish. It includes everything from tiny bugs from around the globe, to a humongous whale. There’s even a mummified crocodile dated at 3,000 years old and originating from a Pharaonic tomb.

From your first steps inside the museum, you will be amazed by the vast amount of displays and their sheer diversity. The museum has been closed then reopened a couple of times in its history and was entirely renovated in 2015.

Tickets are only 10 EGP, and that will give you a tour inside a stunning museum with many displays, each presented in a highly professional manner. Perhaps the only problem is that there is not that much of a description beside each piece.

The Animal Museum is a perfect place for animal enthusiasts, and surely deserves much more publicity than it’s getting. We hope that more people will learn about this museum and that it will get the attention it deserves.

 

P.S. Make sure you check out our pieces on the Egyptian Geological Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art.

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