Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
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The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London is run by the Institute of Archaeology, which is part of University College, London.
The museum was established as a teaching resource for the Department of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College at the same time as the department was established in 1892. The initial collection was donated by the writer Amelia Edwards. The first Edwards Professor, William Flinders Petrie conducted many important excavations, and in 1913 he sold his collections of Egyptian antiquities to University College, transforming the museum into one of the leading collections outside Egypt. The museum now has 80,000 items. Since the early 1950s it has been housed in a former stables building, and it is now open to the public several days a week.
University College is currently working to create a new building which will house the Petrie Museum and also serve as a public entrance to the college as a whole. This building, which will be called the Panopticon, will also have space for temporary exhibitions, a café, lecture facilities, a reading room and a display area for the University of London's collection of rare books and manuscripts. Three floors will be devoted to the Petrie Museum, and for the first time the entire collection will be on display or in visible storage.
