Only 10 of Bahariya's richly decorated cache of 10,000 mummies are exhibited here. While the motifs are formulaic and the work is second-rate, the painted faces show a move away from stylised Pharaonic mummy decoration towards Fayoum portraiture. Underneath the wrappings, the embalmers' work appears to have been sloppy, so these mummies mark the beginning of the end of mummification.
The exhibit embodies that spirit and is entirely underwhelming. The museum doesn't have a sign. Look for the building resembling a wartime bunker behind a low cream-coloured wall topped with guard turrets. The ticket office (for all of Bawiti's sites) is just inside the entrance gate.
