The Geology Museum, Cairo

Al Masry Al Youm

The entrance to the Geology Museum in Cairo, with its sad grey appearance and busy location a few meters away from the Maadi corniche, doesn't exactly lure in visitors. An outdoor alley leading to the museum is bordered by different types of rocks, some named on plasticized labels and others left to the viewer’s imagination.

However, this first impression of general haphazardness--so common for the city's less popular museums--is erased as soon as one enters the vast pre-fabricated building and its three distinct collections. In spite of appearances, the Geology Museum can turn a novice into a lover of rocks.

What attracts the eye immediately is not the museum’s rich collection of fossilized sea shells or the numerous marble samples showcased in some of the many display cabinets.