The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities was founded in 1824 by King Charles Felix with the acquisition of a collection of 5628 Egyptian artefacts assembled by Bernardino Drovetti.
The Museum has since then been housed in the building that the architect Michelangelo Garove had built in the 17th century as a Jesuit school, known as the 'Collegio dei Nobili', and which in the 18th century had become the seat of the Academy of Sciences.
The Egyptian Museum in Turin is, like the one in Cairo, devoted exclusively to the art and culture of ancient Egypt. Many internationally renowned scholars, starting with the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics Jean-François Champollion, who arrived in Turin in 1824, have dedicated themselves to the study of its collections ever since. On 6 October 2004, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities conferred the museum's assets for thirty years to a special foundation, the Fondazione Museo delle Antichità Egizie di Torino (Museum of Egyptian Antiquities Foundation of Turin), to which the Piedmont Region, the Province of Turin, the City of Turin, the Compagnia di San Paolo and the Fondazione CRT belong.
