The Matrouh Archaeological Museum has opened its doors for visitors after being officially inaugurated today by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

The museum is part of a cooperation protocol signed between the Ministry of Antiquities and Marsa Matrouh governorate.

Matrouh governorate has offered part of its National Library to the ministry for the establishing of the archaeological museum, which relates the history of the governorate through all the artefacts discovered within its borders, head of the Museums Department at the Ministry of Antiquities Elham Salah told Ahram Online.

The project is entirely financed by Marsa Matrouh governorate.

The facade of the Matrouh Archaeological Museum

The museum consists of two levels and exhibits 1,000 artefacts excavated in Marsa Matrouh over the years. The exhibit aims to highlight the role Marsa Matrouh, the country's northwest governorate which borders Libya, has played along the span of Egyptian history, with a focus on its role as a hub for trade with neighbouring countries and as a border city.

Salah said that the museum has a collection of objects selected from the storehouses of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, the Suez National Museum and the Alexandria National Museum, including statues of Kings Ramses II, Thotmosis IV, Tutankhamun and Shashanq.

A display of a bust of King Ramses II at the Matrouh Archaeological Museum