Feature: Egypt's zoo museum features mummified animals through centuries

At one of the sides of the Giza Zoo in Egypt, the Zoological Museum appears as a medium-sized short white building. The front does not suggest the inside large main hall with a dome-like ceiling, the side showrooms and the other two floors that contain mummified animals from the modern age back to the time of Egyptian pharaohs.

In the middle of the main hall of the renewed museum, eyes are caught by large skeletons of a giant whale, a hippo, a rhino and several other mammals including a giraffe, a baboon, a flamingo, a deer, a waterbuck, a polar bear and an elephant, besides some mummified reptiles and birds.

Being the first and largest in the Middle East, the Zoological Museum in Giza Zoo can work for both educational and entertainment purposes, as it contains about 1,352 mummified birds, 555 mummified mammals, 259 mummified reptiles, 115 skulls, 49 stuffed heads and 35 skeletons.

"The museum contains mummified animals dating back from 50 years to 7,000 years," said Mohamed Ramadan, the guide of the museum, noting the animals from other countries were gifts from abroad that died later and were mummified in Egypt.

"This female monkey was recently mummified after it committed suicide following the death of her little baby," Ramadan said while pointing to the mummies of a monkey carrying her baby in one of the side showrooms on the ground floor.

The skeletons in the museum have been gathered for more than 100 years and the museum contains mummified species that cannot be seen anywhere else in the world, which made it a useful reference for the students and researchers of zoology, science, veterinary, medicine and agriculture.

On the second floor, where the reptile section is displayed, a showroom features a mummified six-meter long Nile crocodile, known as "Sobek", which dates back to the time of ancient Egyptians who worshipped it in some cities as "the god of water, jungles and swamps".

"Mummified crocodiles and their eggs were found in Egyptian tombs," read the tag framed near Sobek's face in the display room.

The reptile section shows different kinds of Egyptian and Asian snakes including the skeleton of a 6.8-meter long Malayan reticulated python from Sumatra that was granted alive to Egypt as a gift on March 3, 1928 and died in the country a day later.

The Zoological Museum was established in the Giza Zoo in 1906 and was transferred to the current building in 1914. It was closed and reopened several times until it was recently renewed and opened for visitors by former Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab in August 2015.

The main ground hall can be seen from each of the other two floors of the museum that also contains a scientific hall and a conference hall.

"The museum is wonderful in sign, as it gives visitors a clear path through the entire three-floor museum from beginning to end," said an architect Osama Rashad.

The young man added that he was impressed by the "key plan" that tells visitors about the different species contained in the museum including wild animals, water animals, birds, reptiles and others.

"The attractive thing about the open display in the main ground hall is that it takes a double-volume space with a clear vision to visitors and the space is sufficient for large displayed objects," Rashad said, praising the simplicity of the museum design.

The third floor of the museum, still with a view of the ground hall, has a variety of mummified birds including falcons, eagles, hawks, pigeons, owls and harriers.

"It is breathtaking and very well-organized. We really spent a very good time here," said Khaled, who was resting with his wife and little baby at the front park of the museum after taking a tour inside.

Mohamed Nabawi, the gatekeeper, said that the museum is constantly maintained after its recent renewal and some visitors come to the zoo only to visit the unique museum and leave.

"At weekends, the Zoological Museum is always crowded with visitors," the guard said while checking the tickets of some teens. Endit