For most of the 20th century, the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo was the gold standard for collections along the Nile.
That was largely because, among the countless treasures inside, you could find the gleaming death mask of Tutankhamun and every other relic uncovered in the boy king's tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.
But Egypt has always held far more treasures than any single museum could ever contain.
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It is only in recent decades that a wave of museum building up and down the Nile has allowed the Middle Eastern country to showcase more of its artistic and cultural heritage than ever before.
Slowly but surely, the Ministry of Antiquities is moving many of the Egyptian Museum's priceless relics out of the overcrowded heart of Cairo and into a vast new suburban complex called the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).
Set in Giza, GEM will display the entire Tut collection for the first time and connect to the nearby pyramids via a landscaped avenue dotted with colossal statues from Egypt's ancient past.
In southern Egypt, the Nubian Museum in Aswan, housed in a striking sand-colored building that blends seamlessly into the surrounding Sahara, won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2001.
On the Mediterranean coast, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina holds six specialized libraries and four separate museums inside a futuristic building whose design was inspired by the significance of the rising sun in ancient Egyptian times.
Following the lead of historic house museums in Europe and North America, Egypt is also turning some of its historic homes into museum spaces, such as the Gayer-Anderson in Cairo, which has already "starred" in a James Bond film.
Here are some of the best places to explore Egypt's ancient artifacts.
Egyptian Museum
Since it opened in 1902, the distinctive pink palace towering over Tahrir Square in Cairo has been the world's leading showcase of ancient Egyptian artifacts, and it will remain so until GEM finally opens.
The enormous collection, made up of more than 120,000 objects, spans a broad range, from colossal statues and royal mummies to papyrus scrolls, exquisite jewelry and even children's toys from ancient times.
Egyptian Museum, Tahrir Square, 002020 Cairo, Egypt; +20 2 33777263
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
This site is a modern revival of the ancient Library of Alexandria, destroyed in the third century AD during the Roman occupation.
It is home to four permanent museums devoted to Egyptian antiquities, manuscripts, the history of science and former president Anwar Sadat, along with several exhibitions.
Opened in 2002, the museum complex was designed by a Norwegian firm that beat out 1,400 other entries in a UNESCO-sponsored design competition.
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, El Shatby, Dr. Abd El-Hameed El-Sayed Street, Bab Sharq, Alexandria, Egypt; +20 3 4839999
Nubian Museum
The historical and cultural heritage of Nubia, a region spanning southern Egypt and northern Sudan, is the focus of this award-winning museum in Aswan.
Perched on a commanding height overlooking the Nile, the collection covers the span from prehistoric times to the Islamic period, including artifacts rescued from the rising waters of Lake Nasser and precious objects from the ruined city of Meroe.
Nubian Museum, Aswan, Sheikha Oula, Kism Aswan, Aswan Governorate, Egypt; +20 97 2319111
The best of ancient Egypt
Museum of Islamic Art
A silk-and-silver horse saddle from the Ottoman Empire, an exquisite copper table from Mamluk Egypt and rare copies of the Quran are just a few of the masterpieces on display at the Museum of Islamic Art.
As the world's largest collection of Islamic art and artifacts, the holdings here span the entire Islamic world, from Iberia and Morocco to the Indian subcontinent and western China.
In all, the museum preserves more than 100,000 wooden, metal, plaster, ceramic, glass and textile artifacts from the Middle East and beyond.
Museum of Islamic Art, Doha; +974 4422 4444
Saint Catherine's Monastery
Set at the foot of Mount Sinai, the peak celebrated as the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments, the fortified complex holds a museum of Christian relics gathered since the third century AD, when monks first arrived at the site.
Among its treasures are golden icons, mosaics and frescoes, as well as illuminated manuscripts.
For visitors making the long trip from Cairo, overnight accommodation is available inside the monastery.
Saint Catherine's Monastery, Qism Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai Governorate, Egypt; +20 69 3470353
Coptic Museum
This Cairo collection centers on the art and artifacts of Egypt's Coptic civilization, Christians who trace their faith back to the first century AD and the evangelical work of St. Mark.
Many of the treasures date to the Roman and Byzantine periods, when Christianity was the dominant religion in Egypt.
The museum is surrounded by gardens and six ancient Coptic churches.
Coptic Cairo, 3 Mari Girgis, Kom Ghorab, Old Cairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt; +20 2 23628766
Tutankhamun's tomb preserved for future generations
Luxor Museum
Opened in 1975 as one of Egypt's first modern museums, the Luxor collection sits along the Nile beside the majestic Luxor Temple.
Unlike the archaeological jumble at its Cairo counterpart, the Luxor Museum displays only the finest pieces.
Highlights include a partial reconstruction of a rare temple of Akhenaten, a life-size statue of Amenhotep III with the crocodile god Sobek, and the mummies of the pharaohs Ramesses I and Ahmose I.
Luxor Museum, Corniche el-Nil, Luxor City, Luxor, Luxor Governorate, Egypt; +20 95 2370569
El Alamein Military Museum
Located on Egypt's northwestern coast, the museum tells the story of the 1942 battles that decided the fate of Egypt (and, by extension, the entire Middle East) during World War II.
British Commonwealth forces under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery secured victory over the Afrika Korps of German General Rommel. The main attractions are vintage tanks, artillery guns and aircraft.
Nearby lies the Commonwealth War Cemetery, with more than 7,000 graves, while German and Italian war memorials stand on the outskirts of the town of El Alamein.
El Alamein Military Museum, Marsa Matrouh Road, Markaz Al Alamein, Matrouh Governorate, Egypt; +20 46 4100021
Gayer-Anderson Museum
Cairo has preserved several of its historic houses, including two 17th-century residences in the Gayer-Anderson complex in the Sayeda Zeinab district: Bayt el-Kritliyya, or the "House of the Cretan Woman," built in 1632, and Bayt Amna bint Salim, built in 1540.
Named after the retired British major who restored the houses in the 1930s and '40s, the museum is filled with furniture and artwork from the period.
A pop-culture note: the museum appeared in the 1977 James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me."
Among the city's other historic house museums are the magnificent Abdeen Palace, the home of Egyptian poet laureate Ahmed Shawqi and the recently reopened Aisha Fahmy Palace on Zamalek Island.
Gayer-Anderson Museum, Ahmed Ibn Tulun, Tulun, As Sayeda Zeinab, Cairo Governorate, Egypt; +20 2 23647822
Mummification Museum
This small but intriguing collection on the Corniche in Luxor showcases the various tools and materials used in the mummification process.
It also holds several examples of the craft itself, including animals and an ancient high priest.
Mummification Museum, Luxor City, Luxor, Luxor Governorate, Egypt; +20 95 2370062
A 'secret' tour of the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum
Grand Egyptian Museum
Nearly 20 years in the making, the Grand Egyptian Museum is still under construction, but it is expected to open to the public in 2020.
The colossal complex crowns the Giza Plateau on the edge of Cairo and will be linked to the pyramids by a two-kilometer landscaped avenue.
Costing more than half a billion dollars, the world's largest museum devoted to a single ancient civilization will house more than 100,000 artifacts and, for the first time, display the Tutankhamun collection in full.
Grand Egyptian Museum, Alexandria Desert Road, Kafr Nassar, Al Haram, Giza Governorate, Egypt
