Imhotep Museum

Imhotep was an ancient Egyptian genius a brilliant architect, mathematician, physician, astrologer, poet, priest, and Chief Minister to Pharaoh Djoser. Imhotep’s name means “the One Who Comes in Peace” Although he was born a commoner, Imhotep rose to become King Djoser’s vizier and was in charge of building Djoser’s tomb at Saqqara. Rather than constructing a regular mastaba, or bench-shaped tomb. Imhotep was worshipped as a deity after his death, in Egypt’s Late Period and in classical times up until the seventh century CE.

The The Imhotep Museum is an archaeological museum located at the foot of the Saqqara necropolis complex, near Memphis was one of the oldest and most important cities in ancient Egypt, located at the entrance to the Nile River Valley near the Giza plateau. Memphis in Lower Egypt. Imhotep Museum is an archaeological museum located at the foot of the Saqqara necropolis complex, near Memphis was one of the oldest and most important cities in ancient Egypt, located at the entrance to the Nile River Valley near the Giza plateau. Memphis in Lower Egypt. The museum, which was named for the ancient Egyptian architect Imhotep, was opened on April2006, by Suzanne Mubarak and Bernadette Chirac. Imhotep is credited with being the first Egyptian to build a monumental structure out of stone, Pharaoh Djoser's step pyramid located at Saqqara, which was built during the 3rd Dynasty.

The large hall displays the base of a statue of King Djoser, with part of his feet and the name, Imhotep, Chancellor of Lower Egypt written in hieroglyphs. Walking into the main hall, the eye is immediately drawn to a long wall opposite the entrance, covered in magnificent blue-green faience tiles collected from the burial chamber of Djoser’s pyramid and the South Tomb of the Step Pyramid complex. These have been reconstructed as a whole wall and include doorways with reliefs of the king running in the Heb-Sed. For me this is the showpiece of the whole museum. The rest of the room contains architectural elements, including the earliest examples of stone pillars and columns in their naturalistic style and the earliest stone arch. Imhotep is thought to have pioneered the use of stone in construction and he replicated the style of earlier elements of reeds and natural materials. In the centre of the main hall there are the remains of a seated statue of King Djoser.

There are many other stelae and statues, but the most exquisite must be the small limestone statue pair of Amenemipet and his wife, found at Saqqara on the Unas causeway.

There are also statues of Osiris, Anubis, Sekhmet and Goddess Isis with Child Horus. Statues seen in the The Imhotep Museum is an archaeological museum located at the foot of the Saqqara necropolis complex, near Memphis was one of the oldest and most important cities in ancient Egypt, located at the entrance to the Nile River Valley near the Giza plateau. Memphis in Lower Egypt. Imhotep Museum in Saqqara, Egypt.

There are some especially fine pieces of sculpture as well as funerary equipment and fragments from King Djoser's Step Pyramid complex, including an entire section of the faience-tile covered walls from the galleries situated below the pyramid (which have never been open to the public).

Situated near the tourist entrance to the Saqqara necropolis the museum is a good introduction to the ancient site (though some may prefer to walk its air-conditioned halls after exploring the hot desert ruins).