Rijksmuseum van Oudeheden: Egypt

The Dutch National Museum of Antiquities is here in Leiden and it is touted to have one of the finest permanent Egyptian collections in Europe.  It also houses antiquities of the ancient Greeks, Romans, the near east, as well as from areas of the Netherlands.   

This is the Temple of Taffeh.  It was constructed after the Roman conquest of Lower Nubia around 25 A.D. and was originally located in Abu Simbel (this is way down the Nile).  This area became submerged by flooding after the Aswan High Dam was built on the Nile starting in 1960.   The Temple of Taffeh was a gift from Egypt to the Netherlands for the Dutch participation to save monuments in this region.

The two blue creatures in the doorway are contemporary actors, portraying Egyptian Gods of the Earth, Geb and Aker.

We came across many mummies and sarcophagi, this one is layered with an outer coffin, and inner coffin and a linen and plaster one as well. Liam and Kai took these studies very seriously, taking copious notes on the terrific displays.

This is from the book of Amduat, a "tour guide book" of the afterlife.  The priests provided this in the burial chamber of a royal person for the deceased to be able to find the realm of the dead in the afterlife.  It is terrific fun discussing life and death cosmology with Liam and Kai, they just soak it in, fascinated. We talked about death as the great unknown, the last great adventure of every person who was ever alive and ever will be alive.  Great stuff.

The Egyptians didn't just mummify their cats when they died, which of course they mummified many thousands of cats and many were placed in their own burial chambers, but they also mummified falcons, eels, fish, and, yep, you guessed it, crocodiles: