The Georg Steindorff Egyptian Museum houses the largest and most important university collection of its kind in Germany. The collection contains unique archaeological finds, especially from the Lower Nubian town of Aniba.
The Egyptian Museum presents around 7000 objects, giving a complete overview of four millennia of ancient Egyptian culture. The original artefacts are highly varied and include statues, reliefs, small bronzes, sarcophagi, funerary figurines (shabti), stone and clay vessels as well as ostraca. The museum collection began with a mummy sarcophagus adorned elaborate hieroglyphics, which Gustav Seyffarth (1796–1885), Professor of Archaeology at Leipzig University, acquired in Trieste in 1840. Under the later director Georg Steindorff, after whom the Egyptian Museum is named, the small collection was expanded into a museum.
Following the destruction of individual exhibits during the Second World War, the museum was reopened in 1976. With the help of university funds and donations from the Volkswagen Foundation, new tools were acquired for modernising and documenting the museum. The Egyptian Museum has been located in the Kroch tower since June 2010.
Egyptian Museum opening hours
Wednesday to Friday
1pm–5pm
Saturday and Sunday
10am–5pm
Most public holidays
10am–5pm
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays