Musée d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne, Marseille

The Mediterranean Archeology Museum (Musée d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne), situated on the first level of the Vieille Charité in Marseille, brings together two distinct departments: one dedicated to Egyptian antiquities and the other to classical antiquities. The collection of regional archeology, previously housed in a separate space, has now been relocated to the Marseille History Museum at the Center Bourse. On the second floor of La Vieille Charité, visitors can explore the Museum of African, Oceanic, and Native American Arts.

The remarkable collection primarily consists of artifacts amassed by Doctor Clot-Bey (1793-1868). Commissioned by the viceroy of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, Doctor Clot-Bey spent an extended period in the country, establishing a medical school there. Later, the city of Marseille acquired this collection at a nominal cost, and it was further enriched through generous donations and various acquisitions.

The museum layout includes five sequential rooms, each presenting statues, sarcophagi, and assorted objects thematically. The first room showcases objects from the predynastic period, displayed in two elegant showcases. Among the exhibits are tubular vases, vases adorned with geometric patterns, bone pins, makeup palettes, arrowheads, and scrapers. The final room serves as a representation of a funerary chamber.

Additionally, visitors can admire a granite bust of a man, a 20th dynasty granite statue of Ramses VI, and a leptocephali head of the goddess Sekhmet, most likely originating from either the temple of Mut (Karnak) or a Jubilee temple of Amenhotep III, who extensively revered this goddess and created multiple depictions of her.