Museums and archaeological sites in Egypt are free to visitors today to mark the 200th anniversary of the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked the secrets of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The stele is inscribed with three versions of a decree issued about 200 BC.
One is in ancient Greek which enabled a French linguist Jean-Francois Champollion to translate hieroglyphics for the first time.
The Rosetta Stone had been found in Memphis in Egypt in 1799 by a French military officer, but was subsequently taken by British forces and shipped to England.
It was then given to the British Museum where it remains
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