Quick answer
The Mummification Museum is a small underground museum on Luxor's Corniche, opposite the Mina Palace Hotel, devoted to how ancient Egyptians preserved the dead. It shows real embalming tools, canopic jars, coffins, the mummy of a high priest and a row of mummified animals, and takes 30 to 45 minutes.
What is the Mummification Museum?
It is a single-subject museum explaining the process of mummification, step by step, with genuine ancient objects rather than reconstructions. Opened in 1997, it occupies a cool, dimly lit basement gallery reached by a ramp from the riverside promenade, opposite the old Mina Palace Hotel.
The museum is small, essentially one main hall and a corridor of showcases, but it answers the question almost every visitor to the tombs asks: how exactly were these bodies preserved for 3,000 years? It is the practical companion to our in-depth guide to mummification, which covers the beliefs behind the process.
What can you see inside?
The collection follows the 70-day embalming sequence, from removing the organs to wrapping and burial, illustrated with the actual equipment. Look for these as you go round:
- The embalmers' toolkit: bronze hooks and spatulas, knives, needles and small bowls used for resins and oils. Labels explain which tool was used where, including the hook used to draw the brain out through the nose.
- Natron and resins: samples of the natron salt that dried the body over roughly 40 days, and the resins and linen that sealed it.
- Canopic jars: the four jars for the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines, with stoppers in the form of the four Sons of Horus.
- The mummy of Masaharta: a high priest of Amun at Thebes in the 21st Dynasty (about 1050 BC), well preserved and the centrepiece of the main hall.
- Coffins and amulets: painted wooden coffins, and the protective amulets, such as scarabs and the Eye of Horus, that were tucked into the wrappings.
- The god of embalming: a statue of Anubis, the jackal-headed guardian of the dead, sets the scene near the start.
Why are there mummified animals?
Ancient Egyptians mummified animals as pets, as food for the afterlife and, above all, as offerings to the gods they were sacred to, and the museum displays a selection. The display includes a mummified crocodile, a cat, a fish and a ram, the last linked to the creator god Khnum.
Animal mummies were produced in their millions in the Late and Ptolemaic periods, sold to pilgrims who dedicated them at temples. If the crocodile catches your interest, the Crocodile Museum at Kom Ombo, a standard Nile cruise stop, has dozens more.
How long does it take and when should you go?
Allow 30–45 minutes, ideally in the evening as part of a walk along the Corniche with Luxor Temple. At the time of writing the museum opens into the evening, like the Luxor Museum, but hours can change with the season and during Ramadan, so check before you go.
Because it is underground and air-conditioned, it is also a welcome escape on a hot afternoon. It is rarely crowded; tour groups tend to skip it, so you will often share the hall with only a handful of others. Being underground, it is also one of the few places in Luxor where you can escape the street noise entirely.
A good sequence is the Mummification Museum at about 5pm, then Luxor Temple at sunset a few minutes' walk away, and dinner on the Corniche afterwards. Read the labels in order: the displays are arranged to follow the process from start to finish.
Getting there and tickets
The entrance is on the river side of the Corniche, a five-minute walk north of Luxor Temple and about 15 minutes' walk south of the Luxor Museum. From most East Bank hotels it is a short calèche or taxi ride; agree the calèche fare first.
Tickets are sold at the entrance. Prices change regularly, so check egymonuments.gov.eg before you go. Phone photography has generally been allowed in recent years, though policies change, so confirm at the ticket desk. Access is down a ramp, which suits pushchairs and most travellers with limited mobility.
Is it worth visiting, and is it suitable for children?
It is worth 40 minutes if you are curious about how mummies were made, and it is excellent with children aged about eight and up. Seeing the actual tools and an animal menagerie makes the tombs of the Valley of the Kings far more meaningful the next day, when you will see the same canopic jars and Sons of Horus painted on the walls.
Very young or easily unsettled children may find the human mummy confronting, so prepare them beforehand. Travellers short on time, or those who have already seen the Royal Mummies Hall at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo, could reasonably skip it in favour of the Luxor Museum.
Mummification Museum: FAQs
How long did mummification take in ancient Egypt?
The full process traditionally took about 70 days, of which around 40 were spent drying the body in natron salt. The museum's displays follow that sequence. Read more in our mummification guide.
Whose mummy is in the Mummification Museum?
The main human mummy is Masaharta, a high priest of Amun at Thebes during the 21st Dynasty, around 1050 BC.
Is the Mummification Museum scary for kids?
Most children over about eight find it fascinating rather than frightening, especially the animal mummies. Younger children may find the human mummy unsettling, so talk it through before you go.
Is the Mummification Museum the same as the Luxor Museum?
No. They are separate museums on the same Corniche, about 15 minutes' walk apart. The Luxor Museum is larger and covers Theban art and history; the Mummification Museum focuses solely on embalming.