The Egyptian government established the 'Service des Antiques de l'Egypte' in 1835 mainly to halt the plundering of archaeological sites and to arrange the exhibition of the collected artifacts owned by the government. The first storage place for these artifacts was the Azbakiah garden in Cairo, but the collection was later transferred to another building in the Citadel. In 1858, a museum was set up at Boulaq, the contents of which were collected by the French archeologist August Mariette. In 1880, the contents of the Boulaq museum were transferred to an annex of the Giza palace of Ismail Pasha, then ruler of Egypt. In 1900, the artifacts were moved to what is today known as the famous Egyptian Museum, designed by French architect Marcel Dourgnon.

The Egyptian Museum exhibits over 120,000 objects, the main groups of which are:

- The mummies of some Pharaohs of the 18 to 20th Dynasty found in Thebes. The first group was found in the Deir el Bahari cachette and consists of the mummies of Seqenenre,

Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Tuthmosis I, Tuthmosis II, Tuthmosis III, Seti I, Ramsis I, Ramsis II, Ramsis III. The other group was found in the tomb of Amenhotep II, consisting of the mummies of: Amenhotep II, Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III, Merenptah, Seti II, Siptah, Ramsis IV, Ramsis V, Ramsis VI (& three women and a child).

- Artifacts from the tombs of kings and members of the royal families of the Middle Kingdom found at Dahshur in 1894

- The contents of the royal tombs of Tuthmosis III, Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III and Horemheb and the tomb of Yuya and Thuya.

- Artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun, consisting of more than 3500 pieces, of which 1700 objects are displayed in the museum (the rest are in the storerooms)

- Objects from some royal and private tombs at Tanis (in the Delta) dating from the 21st and 22nd Dynasties.

- Artifacts from the Amarna Period made for Akhenaten and members of his family and some high officials. These were found in Tell el Amarna, Hermopolis, Thebes and Memphis between 1912 and 1933.

- Collections of artifacts from the royal palaces.