Marsa Matrouh Museum

Marsa Matrouh Museum fills 728 m² over two floors of the Misr Public Library and tells the story of Egypt's Mediterranean coast near the Libyan border. A foreign adult ticket costs 80 EGP, and it opens 8 am to 10 pm, closing from 3 to 5 pm.

Egypt's north-western corner has an absorbing archaeological story that hardly any visitor hears. The Marsa Matrouh Museum, set on the upper floors of the new Misr Public Library, is where it is told. The display covers 728 m² on two levels and follows the long history of this Mediterranean shore: the Seventh Nome of Lower Egypt under the pharaohs, known to the Egyptians as Lubia, and to the Greeks and Romans as Paraetonium (or Amunia, "the city of Amun").

The galleries focus on the pharaonic frontier forts along the Libyan border, a chain built by Ramses II that archaeologists have only recently rediscovered. They also cover sea trade, fishing and the ancient cult of Amun at the Oracle of Siwa, which Alexander the Great famously consulted in 331 BC. Give some time to the section on Hellenistic learning and trade links, and to the lively display on Bedouin desert life.

The library is air-conditioned, a welcome place to sit with a book on a hot Mediterranean afternoon.

What to see

• Displays on the pharaonic frontier forts
• Greco-Roman finds from Paraetonium (Amunia)
• The cult of Amun and the Oracle of Siwa
• The Bedouin culture gallery
• Objects from Mediterranean sea trade

Visiting

• Opening hours: 8 am – 10 pm (closed 3–5 pm)
• Tickets: 80 EGP for foreign adults, 40 EGP for students
• Best time: any time; at midday it doubles as a shelter from the heat
• Nearby: Cleopatra's Bath, Rommel's Cave, Siwa Oasis (4 hours south)