The collection of Egyptian antiquities of the National Archaeological Museum (MNA), constituted by more than five hundred pieces (of which about three hundred are in permanent exhibition), is the largest in Portugal, and was put together throughout the 20th century. In 1909, Leite de Vasconcelos, founder of the Museum, brought about seventy objects from Egypt; about two hundred were acquired by Queen D. Amelia during her trip to Egypt in 1903, having been handed to the State in 1910; the rest of the pieces were donated by the Palmela family, by Bustorff Silva and Barros and Sá among others. There are about eighty pieces of unknown origin. The exhibition covers more than five thousand years of History, from Prehistory (about 6000-3000 BC) up to the Coptic Period (395-642 AD) and in it the great periods of Egyptian civilisation are represented: the Old Kingdom, the golden time of the pyramids (about 2660-2180 BC); the Middle Kingdom, a time of great cultural brilliance (about 2040-1780 BC); the New Kingdom in a cosmopolitan phase of expansion (about 1560-1070 BC), the Late Period, with its artistic renaissance (664-332 BC); and the Greco-Roman Period (332 BC - 395 AD), during which Egypt maintained a widely known cultural independence. (Luís Manuel Araújo)