The French architect Marcel Dourgnon designed the Egyptian Museum, and the German architect Hermann Grabe completed the project. The Italian company of Giuseppe Garozzo and Francesco Zaffrani built it. The foundation stone was laid on April 1, 1897, and the museum opened on November 15, 1902. Its collection had moved from Boulaq, established in 1858, to a palace in Giza in 1889, and then to the building on the north side of Tahrir Square.
It holds over 170,000 items on two main floors. The ground floor has large stone works in 42 rooms, arranged chronologically, and the first floor has papyri, coins, textiles and wooden sarcophagi. Collections are moving to the Grand Egyptian Museum, including all artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb. Overcrowding at Tahrir was one reason for the new museum.
On January 28, 2011, looters stole 54 artifacts and destroyed two mummies. Twenty-five of the missing pieces were later found on the grounds.
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