The founder of AMORC, Dr. Harvey Spencer Lewis (Ph.D., F.R.C.), was a collector of various artifacts with mystical symbolism, some of them from the East. In 1921 he helped financially the archaelogical excavations at Tell el Amarna (the city of the King Akhenaten) of the Egypt Explorations Society of Boston by receiving donations from AMORC members. In return, Egypt Explorations Society donated several Egyptian antiquities to AMORC.
In 1928 he presented to the public a collection named "The Rosicrucian Egyptian Oriental Museum", located at the administration buildings of AMORC at San Jose, California.
After Dr. Lewis' tour in Egypt in 1929, AMORC received much more artifacts and donations and as a result the collection grew significantly, with more than 2000 exhibits.
The second Imperator of AMORC, Ralph Maxwell Lewis (F.R.C.), son of H. Spencer Lewis, decided to build new buldings for the museum. The new museum buildings opened in November 1966.
By that time the museum managed to become unique by:
A notable activity took place in 1999 when the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum started the travelling exhibition "Women of the Nile" accompanied by lots of lectures. "Women of the Nile" travelled across the United States of America and Canada, and continued until 2001. In 2000-2002 a stone figure of Cleopatra VII travelled in Rome, London and Chicago in similar exhibitions.
Visitors to the museum will notice Taweret at the entrance, the Ancient Egyptian hippopotamus-like goddess of pregnant women and childbirth.
Rosicrucian Order, AMORC continues to support and expand the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and its educational and scientific activities.
See also
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