The Mummification Museum in Luxor is a small specialist museum on the east bank of the Nile, opened in 1997 to explain the embalming process that produced the world’s most famous mummies. The collection includes the complete 21st-Dynasty mummy of the priest Maserharti, the original tools embalmers used to extract organs, canopic jars from several Theban tombs, and clear English-language displays that walk through the 70-day process step by step. It is one of the most focused, well-explained small museums in Egypt and pairs naturally with the nearby Luxor Museum for an afternoon on the corniche.
The museum opened in April 1997 as a project of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, designed to give visitors a dedicated educational space for understanding mummification. The building sits below street level on the corniche near the Mina Palace Hotel, with a sloping entrance ramp that descends into the main gallery. The lighting is low to protect organic material, and the small size (around 2,000 square metres) allows a complete visit in under an hour.
The collection was assembled from objects already held by the Egyptian Antiquities Service, with several pieces transferred from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and from West Bank tomb finds. The centrepiece is the mummy of Maserharti, a high priest of Amun from the 21st Dynasty (around 1054 BCE), whose body was found in the Deir el-Bahri royal cache near Hatshepsut Temple in 1881.
Maserharti’s mummy is displayed unwrapped in a glass case to show the preservation techniques achieved by the late New Kingdom embalmers. The label explains how natron was used to dehydrate the body, how resin sealed the skin, and how subcutaneous packing restored the body’s shape after the internal organs were removed.
The museum’s educational mission has been strengthened over the past two decades with interactive panels, video presentations, and an English-language audio guide. Egyptian schoolchildren visit on educational trips, and the museum’s programmes for foreign tourists have grown alongside Luxor’s general visitor numbers.
The Walk-Through Process Display takes you through the 70-day mummification sequence in 10 stations: purification of the body, removal of the brain through the nose, extraction of the internal organs through an abdominal incision, separate preservation of the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines in four canopic jars, dehydration of the body in natron salt for 40 days, washing and oiling, packing the abdomen with sawdust and resin-soaked linen, wrapping with hundreds of metres of linen bandages, application of amulets between the layers, and final placement of the mummy in a nested coffin.
The Embalming Tools include bronze knives and scrapers used to make the abdominal incision, hooked rods for extracting the brain through the nostrils, and small ceramic jars that once held the natron and resins used in the process. Several tools are 3,000 years old and were excavated from tomb workshops on the West Bank.
The Canopic Jars are the four ceremonial containers that held the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines after removal. Each jar’s lid carved as one of the four sons of Horus: the human-headed Imsety for the liver, the baboon-headed Hapi for the lungs, the jackal-headed Duamutef for the stomach, and the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef for the intestines.
The Animal Mummies gallery displays smaller mummified examples including a cat, a baboon, an ibis, and a Nile crocodile. Animal mummification became an industry in the Late Period and Greco-Roman era, when pilgrims bought mummified animals as votive offerings.
Location: Corniche el-Nil, Luxor city centre, below street level just north of the Luxor Temple ferry landing on the east bank.
Opening hours: 09:00 to 13:00 and 17:00 to 21:00 daily (afternoon break, like the Luxor Museum up the corniche). Last entry around 30 minutes before closing.
Entrance fee (2026, subject to change): Approximately 150 EGP (around $3 USD) for foreign-visitor adults, 75 EGP for students with international ID.
Photography: Permitted in most galleries without flash. Tripods need a separate permit. The Maserharti mummy display is sometimes photo-restricted.
Time needed: 45 minutes to 1 hour for a careful visit. The museum is designed for sequential reading and works best at a slow pace.
Getting there: Walk along the corniche from Luxor Temple or any central Luxor hotel. The museum is on the Luxor day tour when paired with the Luxor Museum, and on the hot-air balloon afternoon programme as a post-balloon educational stop.
Accessibility: The entrance ramp is wheelchair-friendly. The single-level gallery layout is fully accessible. Toilets at the entrance.
Pair with the Luxor Museum on the same afternoon. Both museums share the same evening hours and sit within easy walking distance on the corniche. A 17:00 Mummification Museum visit followed by 18:30 Luxor Museum makes a perfect Luxor evening.
Read every label. The museum is designed as a teaching tool. The labels carry the same level of detail you would find in an Egyptology textbook chapter, and walking through them in order gives you a complete picture of a process that most travellers know only in caricature.
Bring tissues if you are squeamish. The unwrapped Maserharti mummy is impressively preserved, and some visitors find it confronting.
Ask about the schoolchildren timing. Local schools sometimes visit on weekday mornings. Asking the desk before you go in lets you avoid a crowded gallery.
The Mummification Museum is a popular add-on for travellers who want depth in their Luxor itinerary. The three best options:
Every EDT Luxor tour includes private transport, entrance fees, bottled water, and a licensed Egyptologist guide. The Mummification Museum is a particular favourite for travellers visiting with older children or those interested in ancient medicine.
Fascinating, clear, and well-paced. Our teenagers were riveted by the canopic jars and the embalming tools.
A perfect 45-minute stop that explained everything we had been seeing in tombs all week. The Maserharti mummy was unforgettable.
Small, focused, and beautifully laid out. We paired it with the Luxor Museum and felt we understood mummification properly for the first time.
The full 70-day mummification process used in ancient Egypt, including tools, canopic jars holding preserved organs, animal mummies, and the unwrapped human mummy of the priest Maserharti.
Yes for most ages, though the unwrapped human mummy can be confronting for under-tens. Older children and teenagers usually find the displays fascinating, and the museum is a favourite educational stop on family Luxor itineraries.
45 minutes to 1 hour for a careful visit. The museum is designed for sequential reading and pays off best at a slow pace.
Yes. The 21st-Dynasty priest Maserharti is on display in a glass case, unwrapped. Photography is sometimes restricted at this display.
On the Luxor corniche on the east bank, below street level, walking distance from Luxor Temple and the Luxor Museum.
Yes. The two museums cover different aspects: Luxor Museum focuses on statues, royal mummies, and ancient art; the Mummification Museum focuses on the embalming process and burial preparation. Together they give a complete picture of the New Kingdom afterlife.