What is Papyrus paper made from?
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Papyrus is paper that is made from the Cyperus papyrus plant which, when farmed, grows well in the Nile's fresh water. It grows in water up to about a meter deep and can reach four and sometimes nearly five meters in height. The stem at its broadest can be fifteen centimetres across.

The stems of the Cyperus papyrus plant are triangular in shape which helps to give it the strength to withstand high winds without breaking. The ancient Egyptians started making paper from the papyrus plant over five thousand years ago and it is no coincidence that “paper” and “papyrus” are such similar words because the word “paper” is a derivation of “papyrus”.

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Other uses of the Papyrus plant.

The ancient Egyptians appeared to have used papyrus in so many ways. We know they made paper from papyrus but they also used it to make sandals, wove it into mats, baskets and fencing, made rope and also used parts of the plant for food as well as a medicine. The reeds were bundled together to make boats and dried to make fuel for fires. There are undoubtedly other uses that the ancient Egyptians found for papyrus. We were told that the ancient Egyptians even made an early type of life jacket out of papyrus. It sounds feasible but we are not sure how true this is.

More about the pictures on this page.

These pictures were all taken at the Pharaonic Village back in May 2002. This is an island in the river Nile between Cairo and Giza around which there are approximately 20 acres of papyrus. The Pharaonic Village is not old, it is a theme park (without any rides) featuring actors in period costume recreating scenes of ancient Egyptian life. A Dr. Hassan Ragab is the founder of this project but he is better known as the man who reintroduced the papyrus plant back into Egypt and rediscovered the art of papyrus paper making.