Ägyptisches Museum Bonn

Current exhibitions

About the museum

Bonn's Egyptian collection dates back to the early days of the university: in 1820/21 the orientalist Johann Martin Augustin Scholz brought back antiquities from a journey, which were initially kept in other university collections. After the Egyptological Seminar was founded in 1897, Alfred Wiedemann expanded the holdings; in the late 1920s the collection passed entirely into the care of the Egyptology department.

The collection suffered considerable losses in World War II. New holdings came mainly from Elmar Edel's excavations in the rock-cut tomb necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa near Aswan, which remain a focus to this day. Later, donations such as a large collection of prehistoric arrowheads added to the holdings.

The collection opened as a public museum on March 16, 2001, in the former fencing hall above the Koblenzer Tor of the university's main building. Because of the general renovation of the main building, the museum closed in 2023 and since October 2024 has been showing around 1,000 of its roughly 6,000 objects at its temporary location at Poststraße 26, between the main train station and the Münster (minster). The exhibition spans from prehistory to the Coptic-Arab period.

Highlights

• Finds from the Qubbet el-Hawa necropolis near Aswan
• Plaster cast of a temple relief of Seti I – the collection's first object
• Blue-glazed ceramics depicting Queen Tausret
• Child's coffin whose authenticity is being re-examined
• Largest Egyptian collection in North Rhine-Westphalia

Permanent exhibitions

• Dauerausstellung: Kulturgeschichte des pharaonischen Ägypten – Around 1,000 objects from prehistory to the Coptic-Arab period, with a focus on Bonn's excavations at Qubbet el-Hawa.

Founded

2001

Operated by

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Institut für Archäologie und Kulturanthropologie

Director

Frank Förster (Kustos)

Admission & discounts

Free admission also for school groups, refugees, press, and members of museum associations.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Step-free access by elevator to the fourth floor of the P26 building.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

Bookable for groups: children's rally through the exhibition (approx. 30–45 min.), introduction to hieroglyphic writing (approx. 45–60 min.), and workshops; daycare groups with children under 6 pay a flat fee of €10.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Restaurant: not available
• Museum shop

Small museum shop with books, papyri, and souvenirs (proceeds benefit the museum).

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Plan your visit