Karanis Open Air Museum

The objects displayed in Karanis open air museum are fragments of monumental architectural pieces and stone sculptures from Pharaonic times (Mainly Middle and New Kingdoms) that have been transferred to Karanis from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities’ rescue excavations in Kiman Faris in the modern Fayoum City.

This was the site of the ancient Shedet later Arsinoë – Crocodilopolis, modern day Madinat Al Fayoum. The exhibited artefacts are among the few physical remnants of this once prominently important city and its great temple dedicated to Fayoum’s chief crocodile god, Sobek.


The open air museum is located inside Karanis archaeological site, 35 KM north of Fayoum city. The ruins of the Greaco Roman ancient town of Karanis include two temples, decorated bath house and mud brick houses.


Karanis open air museum was built as part of the URU Fayum Project (University of California, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and University of Auckland) under the supervision of the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities. It is funded by the United States Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation through the Association for the Urban Development of Islamic Cairo, an Egyptian non-profit NGO.


The display is integrated into a wider presentation and management scheme carried out by the American/Dutch/New Zealand team excavating and conserving the site.

Entrance Fees:

Included in the entrance ticket of Karanis Archeaological site.

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