If you’re passionate about history, visiting museums must be your thing and whatever the museum is like, there’s some part of you that appreciates everything that’s in there. But when the museum isn’t just amazing but has a terrific view as well, you can easily insert it under the uniquely enchanting places section that you must have in your mind or on your Local Guide profile!
Today, I will take you through two amazing museums that are located in a relatively distant but very soul-calming, extremely quite areas that overlook the Nile.
- Om Kulthoum Museum - Manial
This was actually the first museum I visited back in 2017. It’s located on the Rouda Island in Manial. The museum is inside Al Manesterly Palace and you have to walk through an enchanting garden that’s full of trees, greenery and flowers to get to the museum. The museum itself is small but too valuable with the rich life of the greatest Egyptian signer of all time: Om Kulthumm. You can see many several personal items of hers such as dresses, jewelry and her famous handkerchiefs. There’s also a great number of medals of merit, , honors, badges, and gifts that were given to her by Egyptian and Arab presidents, her diaries, diplomatic passport, and many many CDs of her most popular songs.
There’s also a hall with a screen and seats where a documentary of Om Kulthumm is played to the visitors. Once you step out of the museum, you can see the vast extension of the River Nile. I assure you, you’ll fixate there staring at the horizon unable to move as you listen to your own thoughts (because it’s so so quiet in there!)
- Rokn Farouk Museum - Helwan
This is another amazing museum that was once King Farouk’s house where he used to spend his winter break. The museum is in Helwan located on a 11K-square-meter area that overlooks the Nile directly. The building itself was built on an area of 440 square meters and the rest of the area is an amazing garden that includes around 300 mango trees! (Did you know that Egypt is famous for incredibly tasty mango production?!).
Once you step inside the museum, you’ll be taken around 60 years back in time and feel you’re in an old movie or something. The decor is very 1930/1940s-like and is well taken care of you feel they were just living there yesterday! On the first floor, there is a reception, guest room, dining room, and a terrace from which you can see the Nile. From the reception, there’s a corridor that takes you to the bedrooms of King Farouk and Queen Nariman (Interesting fact: they slept in two separate rooms that were only connected through a terrace!) and you can see the tiny little bed for their son Ahmed Fuoad II, who was born in 1952.
The house/museum has a harbor where boats that took the king and his guests on Nile cruises rested yet it was closed when I visited the museum. Spending some time in the garden, listening to the quiet and staring at the holy water of the Nile can have a tremendous effect on your mood so don’t forget to meditate with your eyes open, when you visit Rokn Farouk museum!
