In 1850 the Museum in Louvre sent Auguste Mariette in Egypt to buy some manuscripts. Not being able to get the permit to enter the convents where the papyruses are kept, he decides to stay the same in Egypt, as he was fascinated by that country, but at the same time, he was disappointed by the thefts of the previous centuries, inside the historical monuments. During a stay in Saqqara, in October of the same year, he notices near a pyramid in big steps, a sphinx that emerges from the sand and that seems to be exactly the same as the other fifteen ones that the archaeologist had seen in a collection in Alexandria and in Cairo. For Mariette everything is clear: that sphinx as the ones seen in Alexandria and in Cairo belong to a path that leads to the Serapis temple, called Serapeum, described by Strabone. Here the sacred bulls of Menfi rest, the Apis, who during the centuries were associated to the Greek-Egyptian divinity Serapis, introduced by Tolomeo I. The 1st November 1850, Mariette begins the excavating works, without any official charge or approval. The task is really difficult. The greatest obstacle is the sand that slips every time spades and picks are used. But the work continues frenetic and from the sand the first sphinxes begin to emerge. After about a month they are fifty, but their number is destined to increase greatly until one-hundred and forty-one are unburied. Even a statue of the Greek lyric Pindaro is found, one of god Bes, two great sphinxes of king Nectanebo II and the temple built by the same king. Nevertheless the entrance to the Serapeum appears difficult to find and Mariette is forced to tell the French government about his important archaeological discovery, he will be able to obtain 30.000 franchi to complete his task. But at this point the Egyptian authorities intervene and bring up the discussion on the belonging of the finds and Mariette is forced to stop the excavations. But thanks to an understanding between Egypt and france the archaeologist will be able to continue the work. Finally, Mariette is able to find the entrance to the Serapeum and November 12th 1851 he enters the cemetery of the Apis bulls, excavated in the stone by king Psamtek I. After passing the wide passages that held the sepulchral chambers, in the light of the torches, Mariette sees before him high sarcophaguses in red and black granite that surpass three meters of height. Inside these great tombs there once were the embalmed bodies of the sacred bulls. Mariette finds twenty-four sarcophaguses and he discovers that only two are intact while all the others have been ravaged; instead the steles don’t miss, and there are thousands of them. The excavations continue and February 1st 1852 Mariette finds another tunnel that leads to a second cemetery, ordered by the highest priest of Ptah, Khamuas, Ramses’s II son. The archaeologist finds twenty-eight intact wood sarcophaguses in which the Apis rest and one that contains a human mummy with a gold mask on his face and with many jewels. From some inscriptions Mariette realizes he is before the body of Ramses’s II son. At the end of his excavations Mariette puts in forty-four chests almost six-thousand finds and sends them to the museum in Louvre.