Some 120 000 pieces recall the history of 5 000 years of successive dynasties in Egypt. Sculptures and funerary furniture are presented in more than 50 rooms: statues of kings and queens (Hatshepsut, Amenophis IV), and divinities (Tueris); sarcophagus of Rameses II; and jewellery from the Royal Tombs of Tanis. Originally assembled by French Egyptologist François Mariette in a small museum in Boulaq, the collections soon became cramped and so were transferred to the Giza Plateau, then, as they were added to, they were moved to Cairo. They are due to be taken to new, more appropriate buildings in Giza in 2011.