This large exhibition hall was сreated to the design of A. Sivkov, the chief architect of the State Hermitage, in 1940 at the place originally occupied by the rooms of the Main Buffet of the Winter Palace. The hall now houses the exhibition of culture and art of Ancient Egypt. Monumental sculptures and small statuettes, reliefs, sarcophagi, everyday articles, works of artistic crafts - all these items from the Egyptian collection enable visitors to form an idea of the great ancient civilization throughout its long history from the 4th millennium BC to the beginning of the new era. The statue of Amenemhat III, Pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty (19th century BC) is the only fully preserved royal stone sculpture in the Hermitage, a superb example of Egyptian portraiture. The huge temple statue of the goddess Sekhmet-Mut, carved from black granite, is a masterpiece of the Hermitage collection. This statue came from the temple of Sekhmet-Mut in Thebes and dates from the late 15th century BC Another masterpiece in the hall is the wooden statuette of a priest datable to the late 15th - early 14th centuries BC