Near the midpoint of the campus, a few blocks from Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, is the Oriental Institute, housing one of the world's major collections of Near Eastern art. This is no dry, dusty academic retreat, thanks to a major renovation and expansion that has enhanced all the exhibits and brought the galleries into the 21st century.

Your first stop should be the Egyptian Gallery, which showcases the finest objects among the 35,000 artifacts from the Nile Valley held by the museum. At the center stands a monumental 17-foot solid-quartzite statue of King Tutankhamen, the boy king who ruled Egypt from about 1335 to 1324 B.C. The largest Egyptian sculpture in the Western Hemisphere (tipping the scales at 6 tons), Oriental Institute excavated it in 1930. The surrounding exhibits, which document the life and beliefs of Egyptians from 5000 B.C. to the 8th century A.D., have a wonderfully accessible approach that emphasizes themes, not chronology. Among them are: mummification (there are 14 mummies on display -- five people and nine animals, including hawks, an ibis, a shrew, and a baby crocodile), kingship, society, and writing (including a deed for the sale of a house, a copy of the Book of the Dead, and a schoolboy's homework).

The Oriental Institute also houses the nation's premier archaeological collection of artifacts from civilizations that once flourished in what is now Iran on display in the Persian Gallery. The gallery displays approximately 1,000 objects dating from the Archaic Susiana Period (ca. 6800 B.C.) to the Islamic Period (ca. A.D. 1000). Other galleries are filled with artifacts from Sumer, ancient Palestine, Israel, Anatolia, Nubia, and Mesopotamia (including a re-creation of a royal courtyard of Assyrian King Sargon II).

The excellent gift shop, called the Suq, stocks many one-of-a-kind items, including reproductions of pieces in the museum's collection. Allow 2 hours.