About the Museum

The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum houses some 350,000 artifacts, most of them excavated by ISAC archaeologists in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Approximately 5,000 objects are on view across the Museum's eight permanent galleries that together explore ancient Egypt, Nubia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Syria, Anatolia, and the Levant, along with an exhibit space that highlights the Museum's Islamic collections. Alongside a program of rotating special exhibitions, the galleries serve both the public and scholars worldwide. 

The Museum opened to the public in 1931. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it underwent a major reinstallation, including the construction of a climate-controlled wing for housing collections and ISAC's Archives. 

Nearly two decades later, a renovation of the galleries was completed in 2019 in celebration of ISAC's centennial; the Museum remained open throughout. 

As you explore the galleries, you’ll discover how people thousands of years ago forged a collective identity—confronting, as we do today, questions of autonomy, diversity, and unity. Whether you come as an archaeologist, artist, historian, linguist, scientist, philosopher, or simply as someone curious about the past, we invite you to visit and learn about the beginnings of our lives as humans, together.