The modern annexe of the museum has reopened with a delightful collection of objects, from weapons, pottery and utensils to statues, encased mummies and sarcophagi from predynastic to late Roman times. Artefacts are organised in separate glass cases, each explaining a particular facet of life on the island in ancient times.
The main part of the Aswan Museum, housed in the villa of Sir William Willcocks (architect of the old Aswan Dam), was closed for restoration at the time of writing. Built in 1898, the villa became a museum in 1912 and houses antiquities discovered in Aswan and Nubia. Although most of the Nubian artefacts rescued from the temples flooded by Lake Nasser were moved to the Nubia Museum, there are some well-displayed objects here, with excellent labels in English and Arabic. At the right of the main entrance, in a room by itself, lies the sarcophagus and mummy of a sacred ram, the animal associated with Khnum.