The Nubian Museum
The area of Egypt we now call Nubia follows the River Nile from
Aswan, 350km south to the town of Dabba, near the Fourth Cataract
and the Sudanese border. It is thought that the name Nubia may be
derived from the ancient Egyptian word for gold, 'nbu', as it was from
this land that Egypt obtained most of its rich source of gold and Nubia
was the passage from ancient Egypt to the exotic African lands farther
south. Many pharaohs built small temples and fortresses along the banks
of the Nile in Nubia and exported ebony, ivory, incense and precious
metals and minerals back to Egypt, as well as Nubian slaves. Throughout
Egyptian history Nubia has been alternatively an enemy or a conquered
race, apart from a brief period in Dynasty XXV, when the Nubian (or Kushite)
kings rose to rule Egypt as pharaohs.
Archaeologists have found close cultural ties between Egypt and Nubia from
Prehistoric times and there is much evidence of this from the Egyptian
objectsfound in Nubian graves. Scholars generally divide the history of Nubia
intodifferent cultural groups, assigning letters to each group: A, B, C, D etc.
A-Group and B-Group cultures are loosely tied to the Early Dynastic Period
and the Old Kingdom in Egypt. C-Group culture arose towards the end of the
Old Kingdom and stretched into the Early New Kingdom, whilst the Third
Intermediate Period is represented by the Kushite Kings and the Persian,
Late and Ptolemaic Periods in Egypt were contemporary with the Meroitic
Period in Nubia. At the peak of the Meroitic Period, around the 1st century AD
, Egypt became a Roman province. Nubian culture went into a decline after
this time and was dominated by different groups of desert tribes until the
6th century AD - a period assigned to X-Group culture. In 380AD, the Byzantine
Emperor Theodisius I declared Christianity the official state religion in Egypt
and ten years later banned all pagan religions in all parts of his empire, ordering
the closure of temples in all parts of Egypt and Nubia, including the Temple of
Isis at Philae in Aswan. The Nubians resisted and Isis continued to be worshipped
for another two centuries, although by this time the new religion had found its
way into the hearts of the Nubian people and many Coptic monasteries and
churches had been built. By the 8-9th centuries, the Arabs had also established
their presence in Nubia.Archaeologists have found close cultural ties between
Egypt and Nubia from Prehistoric times and there is much evidence of this from
the Egyptian objects found in Nubian graves. Scholars generally divide the history
of Nubia into different cultural groups, assigning letters to each group: A, B, C, D etc.
A-Group and B-Group cultures are loosely tied to the Early Dynastic Period and
the Old Kingdom in Egypt. C-Group culture arose towards the end of the Old
Kingdom and stretched into the Early New Kingdom, whilst the Third
Intermediate Period is represented by the Kushite Kings and the Persian,
Late and Ptolemaic Periods in Egypt were contemporary with the Meroitic
Period in Nubia. At the peak of the Meroitic Period, around the 1st century
AD, Egypt became a Roman province. Nubian culture went into a decline
after this time and was dominated by different groups of desert tribes until
the 6th century AD - a period assigned to X-Group culture. In 380AD, the
Byzantine Emperor Theodisius I declared Christianity the official state religion
in Egypt and ten years later banned all pagan religions in all parts of his empire,
ordering the closure of temples in all parts of Egypt and Nubia, including the
Temple of Isis at Philae in Aswan. The Nubians resisted and Isis continued to
be worshipped for another two centuries, although by this time the new religion
had found its way into the hearts of the Nubian people and many Coptic
monasteries and churches had been built. By the 8-9th centuries, the Arabs
had also established their presence in Nubia.Inside the museum a flight
of stairs leads down from street level to the entrance of the temperature
and light controlled exhibition space. The focal point is an 8m high Nubian
sandstone statue of Rameses II, brought from storage after 27 years. The
visitor is led around the exhibits in a chronological order, beginning with the
Prehistoric, through the Pharaonic era to Graeco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic
periods of art. Large 'history-boards' on the walls near each exhibit provide
plenty of background information on Nubia's role in Egyptian history. Other
exhibition zones depict the story of irrigation, the UNESCO campaign to save
the Nubian monuments threatened by flooding after the building of the High
Dam and many folk and heritage displays. There is an information centre,
a gift shop and toilets on the ground floor and stairs and lifts to other areas.
This museum is a showcase for the future of Egyptian museums and is a tribute
to those who took part in its design, which has recently been awarded the prestigious International Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

How to get there

The new Nubian Museum is situated east of the Old Cataract Hotel, at the southern entrance to the town and about half an hour's walk from the town centre. You should allow yourself at least two hours for a quick tour if you want to see all the exhibits, but I have found several visits are necessary to take it all in properly.