The building that houses the museum was built by French architect Marcel Dourgnon. The museum itself went through quite a few locations before it came here in 1902. Of course, the collection wasn't so large until the latter 19th century: in fact, the Pasha Abbas gave the entire museum -- which was one dinky room at the time -- to Archduke Maximillian of Austria in 1855. So much for civic pride...

Getting into the museum means going through two different metal detectors and X-ray machines, one set at the wrought-iron gates surrounding the courtyard and another inside the museum itself. On the one going inside, the tourist police asked me if I had a bomb on my person. Did he really expect me to say "yes"?

You have to pay extra if you want to bring your camera into the museum itself. My advice -- don't bother: anything you take inside will look like you were shooting through the fog while shivering something fierce. Chances are you can find the pictures of what's inside the museum in any good book on Egyptology, anyway.

The outside's worth dawdling in if you have the time. All around are statues and fragments of statues, all standing proudly on their bases as if to ask for baksheesh.