A 2,500-year-old mummified cat will be taken out of storage for the first time in centuries after a $15 million donation was given to an Australian university to establish a new museum.

The embalmed feline will be featured in the new Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney and is one of a collection of 30,000 pieces.

The cat is one of many mummified animals that make up the ancient Egyptian relics of the Nicholson collection.

A 2,500-year-old mummified cat (pictured) will be displayed after a $15 million donation was given to Sydney University to open a new museum. The embalmed feline is one of 30,000 pieces in the Nicholson collection

The mummified cat was acquired in Egypt during a dig led by Sir Charles Nicholson, a chancellor at the University of Sydney during the late 1800s.

The collection contains artefacts of artistic and archaeological significance from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the Near East.

'The collections are of immeasurable value for teaching, research and public engagement,' Mr Ellis said.

Director of Museums and Cultural Engagement David Ellis told Daily Mail Australia: 'Mummified cats were left as an offering to the goddess Bastet in her temples.

The Nicholson collection hosts artefacts of artistic and archaeological significance from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the Near East and will be one out of three collections displayed in the new wing

'This particular cat was one of tens of thousands that have been discovered buried in pits.'

Pictures of the feline show the decaying mummified corpse of a small cat, who is thought to have been 'gathered up for offerings' or 'resold in the temple compound by priests'.

The university owns more than 700,000 historical and scientific objects in total but 99 per cent of its collection is in storage due to limited exhibition space.

Chinese-Australian entrepreneur and chairman of Kingold Group, Dr Chau Chak Wing, donated $15 million to 'allow precious and rarely seen objects from the University's collections to be displayed together for the first time'.

'Museums are an important part of the city cultural life,' said Dr Chau.

Chinese-Australian entrepreneur and chairman of Kingold Group, Dr Chau Chak Wing (left), donated $15 million to 'allow precious and rarely seen objects to be displayed together for the first time'

'It is a common aspiration of people all over the world to promote cultural heritage, and it's our responsibility to ensure it is passed on to future generations.'

The donation will fund the building of a 6000-square-metre museum, which will be built by connecting the University's historic Macleay and adjacent Edgeworth David Building.

A 240-seat lecture theatre will be linked to 1,800 square metres of exhibition space, conservation laboratories and a suite of exhibition galleries.

An artist's impression of the new museum has been released by the University and shows a modern, open-plan room with plenty of natural light.

Admission to the new museum will be free. It is scheduled to open in 2018.