Louvre Museum

   Following the French Revolution, the Louvre Palace in Paris, France, was turned into a museum but contained only few Egyptian objects. In 1824, the French government acquired the Durand collection of 1,225 small Egyptian antiquities, and in 1826, through the efforts of Jean-Francois Champollion, the second collection of Henry Salt, the British consul general in Egypt, comprising 4,000 pieces, was purchased. Aseparate Egyptian section was established in the Louvre in 1826, with Champollion as its curator. The collection was enriched by further purchases, notably the Bernardino Drovetti collection in 1827, and objects acquired by Champollion during his tour of Egypt from 1828–1829. Further antiquities were received from the excavations of Auguste Mariette at the Serapeum and the work of the French Institute, which undertook excavations throughout Egypt. Among its chief pieces are a stela from King Djet’s tomb dating to Dynasty 1 from Abydos, the Seated Scribe from the Old Kingdom, and the bronze statue inlaid with gold, silver, and electrum of Princess Karomama of Dynasty 22.

   See also Berlin Egyptian Museum; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; British Museum; Cairo Egyptian Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Turin Egyptian Museum.

Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier