Torino - Egyptian Museum
Treasures of Egypt
The Second Best Egyptian Museum In The World
My mother had expressed great interest in wanting to go to this museum should we visit Torino and we did not disappoint! This one museum lasted almost the entirety of one day to explore. I made this a special entry because it deserved to be highlighted in detail.
Our family trip to Torino was meant to be a sip of something different—something old, something mythic, something golden. We found all three at the Egyptian Museum, home to one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of ancient Egyptian art outside of Cairo. From the moment we stepped inside, we weren’t just spectators—we were time travelers, wandering through halls echoing with the hush of sand, stone, and stories untold.
THERE WAS SOOOO MUCH!!!
So, from the start, I must warn you to save an extra whole day dedicated to this visit; and frankly, this was just the tip of the iceberg for the vast collection of museums in Torino. We could spend a lifetime here visiting one museum to the next.
Sequence of Events
Flight to Heathrow
London
Milan
Lago Maggiore
Rest in Milano
Torino
Final Days in Milan
Nap time in Heathrow
Home
A Sparse Selection of History
I took well over 6000 photos this trip, and most of them were in this museum. To be kind, I’ve spared you the 8 hour tour and consolidated my favorites into a brief snippet to tantalize your imagination. You must go here, it is a rare opportunity to see this much of human and Egyptian history all together! But even among over 30,000 artifacts, there's a profound restraint in how these relics are curated. Each object feels deliberate, like a whisper from the past rather than a shout. There’s an art to leaving room for imagination—no clutter, just careful context. It reminded me of how a great beverage menu works: fewer options, but each one transporting you somewhere new.
Egypt
Here is a photo display of what the archeological site was like for those working on the dig. This stark black-and-white photograph shows a line of Egyptian laborers during one of the early archaeological digs. It’s a sobering image—one that brings humanity and context to the artifacts. Behind every treasure is a story of toil, often unspoken.
Colors That Stand Out
Imagine standing face-to-face with pigments that have outlasted entire civilizations. Blues that still whisper of lapis lazuli, reds that hum with iron oxide, golds that defy decay. Even the black of kohl-lined eyes stared back with piercing clarity. But the real punchline? These colors stood up. Literally. Statues everywhere—standing proud, frozen mid-thought, and mid-magic. Some regal, some eerie, all alive!!!
Needing To Sit
Seated figures are a motif in Egyptian art, and in the museum, they were a breath of calm amidst the grandeur. Knees bent, hands resting, faces composed. As we moved through the exhibits, I felt that same need to pause—to sit with what I was seeing. These statues weren't just resting; they were inviting us to do the same. And honestly, after all that walking, I was more than happy to oblige.
Needing To Lay Down
This is where the air changed. Sarcophagi lay in state, heavy with symbolism and silence. We saw the artistry of rest—the eternal kind. Figures carved in repose, wrapped in ritual. Some were grand and golden, others chipped and worn, but all of them humming with legacy. I thought about how laying down here didn’t mean ending. It meant becoming part of something bigger.
Animals Of The Underworld
From falcons to rams, cats to cobras, the museum reminded us that the Egyptians saw no boundary between human and beast. Every animal had a soul, a story, a symbolism. I felt a pang of kinship seeing a small carved owl—wise, still, and watching. These weren’t just decorative. They were divine companions, guardians of the in-between.
The Heights of Sculpture
Before we left, I stood under an impossibly tall column from a temple wall and looked up, way up. Torino’s Egyptian Museum doesn’t just hold the past—it lifts it. The ceiling, the architecture, the remnants of palatial portals—they all tell you that human hands once reached for the heavens with nothing but chisels and faith. And here they still stand, reminding us what it means to build something meant to last.
Photo 1: Bernardino Drovetti – The Collector in Shadow
This panel introduces Bernardino Drovetti, the controversial collector whose acquisitions became the foundation of the Museo Egizio. His mustachioed stare is dramatic—and perhaps fitting. His legacy dances a fine line between curiosity and colonialism, a reminder of how museums often carry both beauty and baggage.
Photo 2: Giovanni Flechia – A Scholar Cast in Stone
A bust of Giovanni Flechia greets visitors with gravitas. His work in linguistics and Indology bridges the museum’s mission with a broader academic tradition. His marble likeness, like the knowledge he championed, is carved to last.
Photo 3 & 4: A Portal of Stone and Memory
One of many tomb facades on display, this structure is like a spiritual gateway. Once the threshold between the living and the dead, it now welcomes visitors into a world of reverence and ritual. The stone bowl below? Possibly used for offerings—echoes of gesture and faith.
Photo 6: Life on the Nile – In Full Fresco
A stunning wall of painted plaster scenes brings Egypt’s agricultural pulse to life. Figures labor, feast, and herd cattle in bold ochres and rust-reds. It’s a freeze-frame of daily life that’s anything but ordinary—teeming with movement even after millennia.
Photo 7: A Chorus of Stelae – Room 4
Six stelae line the wall like a choir of prayers. Each one is a message—inscribed in hieroglyphs, dedicated to gods, ancestors, or the mysteries of the afterlife. Quiet, subtle, and bathed in golden spotlight, they feel like voices waiting to be read aloud.
Photo 9: A Doorway of Divinity
Standing before this doorway feels like standing before a spell. Carved with symmetry and symbols, it’s a monument to both art and belief. You don’t just read hieroglyphs—you hear them, feel them, in the stillness of this preserved stone frame.
Photo 10: Seated Gods and Sacred Bread
This relief shows gods seated in a scene of offerings—hands open, hieroglyphs cascading like a chant. Note the loaves of bread and food offerings, stylized to perfection. This is where divine presence met everyday sustenance—spiritual and literal nourishment intertwined.
Photo 12: Pyramidion – The Peak of the Afterlife
This capstone once crowned a small pyramid. Now encased in glass, it still points toward the divine. With a falcon, a sun disc, and a kneeling worshipper etched in crisp relief, it’s both a sacred symbol and a geometric marvel.
