Sohag National Museum

On 12/8/2018, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi headed to the southern city to inaugurate the Sohag National Museum. The Sohag National Museum, which is overlooking the Sohag Nile, a few meters from Akhmim Bridge, consists of a "basement". It includes a number of artifacts that show the religious thought of the ancient Egyptians and the idea of resurrection and immortality, as well as the worship of pilgrimage in the Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic times.

The ground floor and the main entrance include statues and archeological artifacts of the kings of the first and second families, as well as archeological artifacts, most of which are the result of archaeological discoveries in the governorate. Some artifacts were transferred from the Egyptian Museum in El-Tahrir, Gayer-Anderson, the Coptic Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art to narrate the story of the governorate since ancient ages, especially in the era of the first and second families. This is in addition to addressing the heritage of the people of the governorate, shedding light on the customs and traditions of the family, and highlighting some industries that the governorate is famous for, including the textile industry in Akhmim.

The museum also houses a collection of artifacts discovered in Sohag, kept in the archaeological stores to serve the presentation scenario. Based on the available data, the museum presentation scenario committee held an emergency meeting to select some artifacts. It was agreed to select pieces from the Egyptian Museum in El-Tahrir and some discoveries in the Abydos archaeological area.

It is worth mentioning that the idea of establishing Sohag National Museum was first launched in 1993 and then its implementation was halted for engineering and technical issues. The work in the museum was resumed in 2006 and then stopped again after the 25 January Revolution before the Ministry of Antiquities continued working in it in 2015 in implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who called for paying interest to the governorates of Upper Egypt and revive tourism in order to resume work in 2016.