Vatican Museums Online: Gregorian Egyptian Museum

"Pope Gregory XVI had the Gregorian Egyptian Museum founded in 1839. It houses monuments and artefacts of ancient Egypt partly coming from Rome and from Villa Adriana (Tivoli), where they had been transferred mostly in the Imperial age, and partly from private collections, that is purchased by nineteenth century collectors. The Popes’ interest in Egypt was connected with the fundamental role attributed to this country by the Sacred Scripture in the History of Salvation. The Museum occupies nine rooms divided by a large hemicycle that opens towards the terrace of the "Niche of the Fir Cone", in which there are numerous sculptures. The last two rooms house finds from ancient Mesopotamia and from Syria-Palestine."