A Journey to the Afterlife
A Journey to the Afterlife
Inspired by the much anticipated opening of the The Grand Egyptian Museum near Cairo, I was compelled to share a few excerpts from my graduate school design project and dissertation: Life. Death. Hereafter… A Journey to the Afterlife at the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Cairo, Egypt.
The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities in Cairo holds the world’s most significant collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts—objects that date back over 5,000 years to predynastic times, even before the pyramids. While the museum is tasked with safeguarding and celebrating these treasures, it has not kept pace with the treasures it houses. The outdated interior spaces and exhibits fail to honor the beauty, symbolism, and cultural significance of these antiquities. Likewise, the surrounding museum grounds—extending west toward the Nile and south toward Tahrir Square—offer tremendous unrealized potential to create a vibrant city center.
As I wrote in my 2015 dissertation, “We assume that if international visitors make only one museum stop, it will be to the Grand Egyptian Museum because of the proximity to the Giza Pyramids and the nature of its collections: the King Tutankhamen golden artifacts are the lure. However, there are a number of visitors staying in the handful of five‐star downtown Cairo hotels who are looking for a Museum experience (Catharine Roehrig 2015, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Egyptian Art, Curator) as well as visitors taking Nile River cruises, and these factors underscore the relevance of this proposal to update this Museum even in light of the development of the other two museums in and around Cairo.”
At Eleven11 Interiors, we believe a thoughtful reimagining of the Egyptian Museum is long overdue. Our conceptual redesign seeks to elevate the visitor experience and create a journey that mirrors ancient Egyptian beliefs about life, death, and the afterlife—a journey that is cyclical, eternal, and deeply symbolic.
A Journey Through Time and Myth
The proposed design is not simply about aesthetics or modernization. It is about storytelling:
The Art: How these artifacts were crafted, what they meant, and why they endure.
The Archeology: How they were unearthed, preserved, and interpreted.
The Mythology: The mysteries, rituals, and beliefs that shaped an ancient world.
More than an update, the goal is to spark pride among Egyptians for their profound cultural heritage, while offering an inspiring, transformative experience for visitors from around the globe . Egypt deserves a museum that fully honors its past in central Cairo—and projects its cultural leadership into the future.
The Design Vision: A Visitor’s Journey
Inspired by ancient Egyptian cosmology, the conceptual redesign immerses visitors in a symbolic journey of judgment, rebirth, and eternal life, echoing the mythic passage through the afterlife as described in the Hall of Two Truths:
"The heart was placed on a scale and weighed against the feather of Maat—the goddess of truth. Only the justified, the maa-kheru or 'true of voice,' would pass into eternal life." — John H. Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt
This profound story guides the spatial experience.
The Transition Ramp Entry
Visitors descend a broad, sloping ramp with cast-in-place rammed earth veneered panels pressed from Cairo’s soil. The descent is a symbolic passage into the underworld and reflects how one accesses the tomb within a pyramid via a tunnel. Light shifts gradually as visitors move downward, creating tension from anticipation and setting a contemplative tone. Universally accessible, all visitors enter the museum in this same manner.
Subterranean Lobby: The Passage
An immersive, shadowed lobby welcomes visitors, inviting them to leave the modern world behind and begin a journey through ancient time and spirit. White noise diminishes the sounds of urban life.
Column of Provisions
At the heart of the space stands a grand central column—a vertical timeline swirling with artifacts. This “Column of Provisions” mirrors the offerings needed for the afterlife journey, sweeping up the walls and leading visitors through Egypt’s dynastic evolution. Resplendent with light, it draws visitors through the tunnel. The display is intentionally cluttered the way tombs were heaped with all of the everyday objects one would need during the journey to the afterlife.
Sweeping around the display will be a timeline of ancient Egypt that shows the major advancements and lists the prominent rulers. The intention is to convey the immense amount of time that separates us from the antiquities that this museum celebrates. The time between when the first pyramid was built by Djoser who died in 2610 BC (metmuseum.org 2015) to Cleopatra VII’s reign that ended in 30 BC is 2581 years. Cleopatra is separated from us in time by 2046 years. We are closer in time to Cleopatra than she was to the Old Kingdom pharaohs (Walsh 2013) – by 500 years.
Sky, Light, and Connection
Above, high ceilings are adorned with linen sails that drift overhead, filtering natural light and creating a celestial canopy. Although sails were created independently by several ancient peoples, Egyptians created their sail during the Old Kingdom, between 2686-‐2160 BC using linen (Ward 2012). The development of river and sea‐going vessels added even more advantage to the Egyptians’ advancement, and archeological evidence tells us that Egyptians traveled over 2000 kilometers by sea or river as early as the Old Kingdom (Ward 2012). Mummies were transported by boat across the Nile to the necropolis which were typically sited on the west side of the Nile.
These references to sails evoke divine connection while providing a cool, diffuse illumination that protects the priceless artifacts below.
A Living Legacy
This conceptual redesign of the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities is not merely about modernization; it is about restoration—of pride, of story, and of spirit.
By creating a museum experience that captures the grandeur and mystery of ancient Egypt, we honor the past and inspire a new generation to protect, celebrate, and dream. The Egyptian Museum should not only be a vault of treasures, but a living symbol of Egypt’s enduring cultural power.
Trish with Zahi Hawass at the Bowers Museum in Orange County. He is the former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Egypt and consulted on this project.