The Museo Egizio is one of the most appreciated museums in Italy, and is the eighth most visited museum in the country. If you are visiting Turin, it would be a wasted opportunity if you do not take a trip to view this extraordinary collection, second only to the museum in Cairo for Ancient Egyptian artifacts. Your guide will meet you at the museum’s entrance, and from here your tour will begin, focusing on the “must see” exhibits in this vast building. Your guide will talk to you about the cult of gods in Ancient Egypt, whilst you view statues of the goddesses Isis and Sekhmet, and also that of Ramesses II, the most important of the pharaohs. Ramesses II created the first chronological list of all the pharaohs (the "Turin King List") of Ancient Egypt, which is now housed in this museum and is the basis of our knowledge of the predecessors of Ramesses II. Among the many thousands of ancient items on display here, you will see examples of one of the most iconic symbols of Ancient Egypt; the sphinx. Sphinxes were built near the pyramids as protective icons, to ensure a peaceful afterlife to the pharaohs. It usually has a feline body and the head of a human male, which is believed to depict the pharaoh it was designed to protect. Another artifact of particular interest is the tomb of Kha and Merit, and the timeless love story behind it. It is believed that Merit, wife of Kha, died before her husband, and as a gesture of his love, he buried her in the sarcophagus he had prepared for himself.