Memphis was a major political and religious centre of ancient Egypt, but the city around its temples has not survived intact. At Mit Rahina, the open-air museum gathers some of its remaining monuments, notably the reclining colossus of Ramesses II, an alabaster sphinx and other stone pieces.
Their scale helps you imagine buildings and courts that have largely disappeared. Inside the colossus’s shelter, the king’s features can be studied closely before you move outside to the open displays. This is an encounter with a lost city through its surviving fragments.
