Cairo Agriculture Museum
Although the entrance fee to the Agriculture Museum of Cairo is cheap, the Museum is remarkable as it illustrates the history of Egyptian agriculture from the ancient Pharaonic period to modern times. Egypt had the first agricultural projects in the world, and its rural history is deeply intertwined with the whole country's history, not only the farm field.
The Agriculture Museum in Cairo consists of several miniature museums, each about a different field of agriculture. This article will shed some light on these museums and the most important displays in each of them.
The Scientific Museum
We will start our exploration today with the Scientific Collections Museum, located within the Agriculture Museum in Cairo. In the first map hall, guests find many historical facts about modern Egyptian agriculture, including the amount and location of wheat, lentils, and barley production.
The second hall is fascinating and has several statues demonstrating the nature of life in traditional Egyptian villages. There is a statue of a man making traditional pottery, another man making handmade carpets, and another man making baskets. There is also a statue of a woman making baskets to sell in the village market.
Afterward, there will be displays about glass manufacturing with a statue of a man making glass products and pictures illustrating this old Egyptian craft. Then, there are colorful statues showing a traditional village wedding. The bride is in her Hawdaj, a wooden box put on a camel, and music players and dancers are celebrating in front of her. This scene is fascinating and a rare treat to behold.
The village market is also perfectly demonstrated at the Museum. There is a statue of a young lady selling her goat at the market, a man sitting on the floor and selling his handmade baskets, a man drawing different colorful tattoos for his customers, and a typical statue of a Sheikh reciting the Qur'an which is a familiar scene to be found in villages across Egypt.
There are also displays showing a typical wedding ceremony inside a small house in Egypt. The first thing the guest sees once he enters the house is the "Kateb Ketab" rituals, the Islamic official marriage rituals, with the Sheikh of the village completing the marriage between the bride and the groom. The male relatives of both families have to attend these rituals and are also shown attending.
Inside the house, there's a statue of a mother opening her door for her young kid to enter. Young girls are distributing sharbat, the traditional drink served in Egyptian marriage ceremonies, among the house's guests and, in some cases, among all the village dwellers.
In the last part of the house, there are two attractive scenes: a young boy kissing his grandmother's hand, a well-known tradition among Egyptians in the countryside. The other scene is of the bride coming out of her room to meet her groom and the village belly dancer performing in front of her.
Moving on to other exhibits on the Museum's first floor, there are other demonstrations of village life in Egypt. There is an older man selling goods in his small grocery shop and a man performing the aragouz, the customary Muppet show in the Egyptian village. There are also statues of ladies in the village performing various activities.
The village café is also displayed in the Museum. You can see a group of men laughing while drinking tea and smoking shisha while others enjoy tunes played by the village band. Of course, women in traditional villages cannot sit at cafes with men.
In the last part of the Museum's first floor are some models of different water dams around Egypt. Egypt's two most crucial water dams are the Aswan and the High Dam. There are models with facts about the two dams and how much electricity they generated throughout Egyptian history.
The second floor of the Museum is mainly an animal section. The guests can see a mummified Egyptian wolf on the stairs leading to the second floor. On the second floor are various mummified deer and ram heads from all regions of Egypt and Africa, with some facts about each species.
The following section is the part for displaying the skeletons of several creatures. The most impressive among them is a skeleton of a giant whale. There are also skeletons of other animals like dogs, sheep, and horses.
Next, there are many displays of sea life in Egypt with different models of fish that live in the Red Sea and the Nile. There are a lot of scenes illustrating the exciting underwater life in the Red Sea. They are similar to the displays in the marine museum near Qaitbey Fort in Alexandria. An amazing mummified Nile crocodile is at the end of the marine section.
The next series of displays are of different kinds of sheep, rams, ewes, and goats that live in Egypt. There is an Arabian goat, the Baladi goat, and the pure Zaraibi she-goats, certain breeds that only grow in Egypt. The Racka sheep and ram, the Friesland ram, and the Rahamany ram grow in Giza in Egypt.
Next comes bird life with displays of Orpington ducks, Qutqaty pigeons that only grow in Egypt, Booz pigeons that live all over the world, Malta pigeons, carrier blue and white Egyptian pigeons, and the Gazagandy pigeon Egyptian breed. Of course, many facts are displayed about each bird in the Museum. At the end of the bird section are some birdhouse models in Egyptian villages.
Rabbits come next with displays that include mummified checkered giant German rabbits, white giant German rabbits, steer gray Flander rabbits, and Himalaya rabbits. This section is the cutest on the second floor.
Then, the ducks and geese start appearing in the Museum. There are exhibits of Baladi Egyptian ducks, Ailesbury white ducks, and geese from Toulouse in France.
Afterward, exhibits of different animals live all over the globe. This collection includes the Nubian Capra, the Egyptian wolf, European pigs, the desert wild dog, wild cats, and the fur of one of the African Zebras.
The Scientific Collection Museum is one of the most exciting museums in Egypt's Agriculture Museum. It illustrates the village life of the Egyptians and the animal life in Egypt, specifically and worldwide.
If you are a history and a nature fan, this Museum is fascinating for spending a warm morning. The Agriculture Museum opens every day from 9 in the morning until 2 pm at noon except for Mondays.
The Flora Museum
The Flora Museum of the Agriculture Museum complex consists of two floors and is all about the flora of Egypt, including displays of all sorts of crops and plants cultivated in Egypt. The ground floor of the Flora Museum has collections of many different types of wheat, barley, corn, rice, onions, and garlic. In contrast, the second floor has exhibits including Egyptian fibers, oil products, pulses, fodder, sugar cane, tobacco, and garden vegetables.
The Arabian Hall Museum
This Arabian Hall Museum was opened to the public in 1961 and contains many displays from Syria. There was a union between Egypt and Syria, forming the United Arab Republic for around five years in the 1960s. The Museum of the Arabian Hall displays many exhibits illustrating handcrafts practiced in Syria using various materials to show their talent and beauty.
Museum of Cotton
The Museum of Cotton includes several displays on the rare genetic origins of Egyptian and foreign cotton. Some scientific experiments are carried out on these origins to know how similar Egyptian and foreign cotton roots are. Since cotton is one of the most essential crops Egypt exports to many countries worldwide, the Museum illustrates the steps of cultivating and manufacturing different types of cloth.
Museum Of Art Collections
This Museum displays many kinds of art created by several Egyptian and non-Egyptian artists. This includes a rare collection of portraits of the former royal family of Egypt.
