Rare treasure offers priceless insights

Egyptian museum gaining public recognition for role in city's history

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - Ever heard of Alexandria National Museum in Egypt? It's little known, even to Egyptians, but the rare treasure contains about 1,800 priceless Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Islamic and Coptic artifacts that narrate the story of the Mediterranean historical city of Alexandria north of capital Cairo.

Located in the busy Horreya Street in downtown, the museum looks like a secluded but elegantly-designed three-story white palace. The building once belonged to a wealthy Lebanese-born wood merchant who sold it to the consulate of the United States in 1954 before Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities bought it in 1996 to turn it into a museum.