| TREASURES FROM ANCIENT EGYPT DAZZLE VICTORIA
Egyptian mummies arrive for Egypt exhibit
Specially crafted Mummy's Chamber one of several Royal BC Museum exclusives
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Young Woman Mummy
Provenance unknown.
Ptolemaic Period (2330-2030 years ago)
Exclusive to The Royal BC Museum exhibition of Eternal Egypt is the Mummy Room. Here visitors will unveil the mysteries of mummification. Real mummies will be on display including one of a woman who lived 2,000 years ago and was probably in her early-20s when she died. Forensic anthropologists recently discovered that her feet do not belong to her, so removed them for further research.
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Victoria, BC - A young woman and four animals mummified by ancient
Egyptians more
than 2,000 years ago were installed today in the Royal BC Museum's specially crafted Mummy's Chamber, one of several exclusive additions to the Royal BC Museum's presentation of Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from The British Museum. Before the exhibit opens in July, a second human mummy - an adolescent boy - will arrive in Victoria and be installed in the chamber next to the young woman.
Drawn from the most important collection of ancient Egyptian art outside of Cairo, Eternal Egypt includes 144 treasures from the tombs and temples of Egypt's greatest rulers. The exhibit, on display from July 10 to October 31, represents the very best of The British Museum's Egyptian collection and features original artifacts carefully selected for rarity and beauty. The tour marks the first, and likely only, time that these objects will be on view in North America.
The most prestigious and valuable exhibit ever to visit British Columbia, Eternal Egypt is also the most costly for the Royal BC Museum. "The scale of this exhibit is certainly ambitious," said museum CEO Pauline Rafferty, noting that the decision to bring an Egyptian exhibit to Victoria was based on solid market research. "In our research, ancient Egypt was right at the top of our visitors' wish lists."
The innovative crafting of the Mummy's Chamber and the careful conservation of its contents characterizes the Royal BC Museum's unique style, and gives Eternal Egypt visitors the chance to experience an important aspect of Egyptian culture that was not already part of the travelling exhibition. Museum staff have constructed the chamber as a complement to the world-class exhibit because of the cultural and spiritual significance of mummies in ancient Egypt.
THE MUMMY'S CHAMBER
The Mummy's Chamber will offer visitors a unique experience as museum interpretive staff act as guides to the rituals and science of mummification throughout the run of the exhibit. The display will house authentic human and animal mummies, as well as a diverse collection of tools and other artifacts - such as brain hooks and canopic jars - that explain the importance the afterlife played in shaping Egyptian culture.
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Female Mummy
- A twenty-something female of some wealth.
- Lived during Ptolemaic Period, possibly during Cleopatra reign.
- The young woman's coffin doesn't belong to her. Still searching for
rightful owner.
- Lotus bulbs in mummy's abdomen represent eternal life.
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Visitors will have the chance to smell the pine tree odour of the preservative resin and frankincense oil, and see the stages of mummy wrapping demonstrated on a sculpted human form that lies on a preparation table and ritual couches, replicas of the lion-shaped couches found in King Tut's tomb.
WRAPPED FOR TRAVEL
The Egyptians believed a mummy's journey to the afterlife was a dangerous one. Today, because mummies are always in danger due to their delicate nature, Royal BC Museum conservators are taking special care to protect them
- as ancient Egyptian priests once did with resin wrappings, protective amulets, and magical spells. Exposure to even small amounts of light and humidity could cause these ancient mummies to disintegrate.
"Their extreme age makes mummies very fragile," noted Royal BC Museum conservator George Field. "The linen wrappings flake off at a mere touch; they are as dry and brittle as old newspaper."
Water-soaked plastic bandages provide supportive shells for travel and display; special silica gel packs reduce decay-causing humidity; and morning windowsill vigils snare carpet beetles that could damage the mummies.
Eternal Egypt exhibit spans more than 3,000 years
The Royal BC Museum's selection as one of only 11 venues for this collection of rare artifacts is a testament to the museum's master exhibit design and conservation staff, Rafferty said. "This expertise is highly prized. We were compared to an impressive list of competing institutions; it was a real coup to be chosen."
Eternal Egypt spans more than 3,000 years, from the time of the great pyramids to the fall of Cleopatra. Highlights include a 2,500 kilogram red granite lion that once guarded the temple of Soleb, original scrolls from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, a splendid death mask, and exquisite gold jewellery.
Special programs for the entire family will bring the past to life. Visitors can experience everyday life in ancient Egypt at the public marketplace, where they can learn to cook a meal fit for a pharaoh, how to make perfume, and explore fashion and personal adornment. Summer camps for children, public talks, and films will also run in conjunction with the exhibit.
During the run of Eternal Egypt at the Royal BC Museum, The National Geographic IMAX Theatre will present the award-winning film, Mysteries of Egypt. This captivating cinematic journey along the Nile River Valley uncovers many of the treasures and wonders of this ancient and mighty civilization.
This exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and The British Museum. The exhibition and its North American tour have been made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund. Additional support has been provided by the Benefactors Circle of the AFA.
PLANNING YOUR VISIT: Advance ticket purchase is recommended due to the expected high demand for the Eternal Egypt exhibit. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Royal BC Museum, online at www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca, or by phone through Tourism Victoria at 1-800-663-3883. Reserved entry time tickets include an audio tour and GST and are $22.50 CDN ($16 US) for adults, $16.25 CDN ($12 US) for seniors, students, and youth aged 6-18, and free for children 5 and under. Family tickets (2 adults and 2 youth) are $65 CDN ($47 US). Tickets for entry times are available every half hour starting at 9 a.m. with the last entry time at 5:30 p.m. (Museum closes at 6:30 p.m.). Once in the exhibit, visitors may stay as long as they wish, and may visit all other parts of the Museum any time during the day of their ticket.
Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from the British Museum
begins its Canadian Tour on February 28, 2004 at the Royal Ontario
Museum in Toronto. Other venues include the Montreal Museum of Fine
Arts from January 22 to May 15, 2005.
Want more information on Acient Egypt try these books. |
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Mummy Artifacts On Display: Facts
Female Mummy
*A twenty-something female of some wealth.
*Lived during Ptolemaic Period, possibly during Cleopatra reign.
*The young woman's coffin doesn't belong to her. Still searching for
rightful owner.
*Lotus bulbs in mummy's abdomen represent eternal life.
Crocs, Hawks, and Cats
The Crocodiles
* Two of these, only 40.5 cm (15.9 inches) long.
Conservators believe they are baby crocs.
* Exact age unknown, but at least 2,000 years old.
* Inside, museum X-rays reveal a complete, intact
skeleton.
The Cat
* Split into two parts. Linen wrappings brown and
crispy like old newspaper.
* Likely mummified as beloved pet or religious token
to the cat goddess, Bass.
* Dimensions 35.5 cm (14 inches) long and 7.5 cm (3
inches) wide. When alive was probably about the size of today's housecat.
The Hawk
* Size about the same as a modern crow.
* X-rays reveal intact skeleton (even surviving
feathers!) of an Egyptian Marsh Hawk, which has local relatives today in the form of the Northern Harrier.
* Exact age unknown, but at least 2,000 years old.
* Condition good, but only partial wrappings survive.
Head, tail, legs, and a bit of a wing exposed.
* Best theory about why hawks were mummified: as an
offering to petition hawk-shaped sky god Horus for safe passage to the afterlife, much like the lighting of candles in a church.
* Mummifying hawks and other birds was big business in
ancient Egypt. One town alone produced 10,000 such mummies annually for sale to the living for a protected death.
* Wrapped bird mummies were often mistaken for human
babies by early Egypt enthusiasts.
Mummy Facts
Mummification Route to Land of the Gods
* Egyptians mummified their dead out of more than
respect. Preservation of the body enabled the person to "live again" in the Land of the Gods.
* An Egyptian mummy didn't easily pass from tomb to
afterlife. They had to face a dangerous journey to get there: fire-breathing dragons, five-headed reptiles, and serpents wielding long knives.
* Pass all the tests, and you still worked in an
agricultural afterlife. Fortunately, symbolic slaves in the form of tiny tomb figurines called "ushabtis" could assume the workload.
Egyptian Funeral Rites
* The mummification process began with "natron," a
naturally-occurring salt that was used to dry out the body of the deceased in order to assist in its preservation.
* No mummy entered its tomb with its organs, except
the heart, intact. Special knives made from a variety of materials were used to cut out organs and place them into pottery vessels called canopic jars.
* The ancient Egyptian brain hooks were bronze, and
used to extract the brain through the nostrils. It was then thrown away. The heart, not the brain, was the most important part to the Egyptians.
* A lot of linen was needed to wrap a mummy - sometimes up to 35
layers and 10.5 kilograms (23 pounds)
* It took a Greek tourist (Herodotus, 2450 years ago) to let us in on
the mysteries of Egyptian mummification. The Egyptians themselves didn't write anything on the subject. Mummy Bits and Pieces
* The word "mummy" did not originate in Egypt, but is derived from
the Persian word "mummia," their term for a black tar (bitumen) that flowed from the earth. It was similar to the resin used to embalm mummies in Egypt.
* World-renowned Egyptian expert Bob Brier (meet him
in person as part of the Museum's special Mummy Weekend, August 7-8) was the first modern person to mummify a human cadaver in Egyptian style, in 1995. Immediately after, he was inundated with offers from mummy wannabes for his next embalming project.
* There might be a real basis for the mummy curse.
Dead bodies can cause infections for the living. This likely killed quite a few grave robbers in ancient times, but today's archaeologists wear protective clothing.
* Mummy wraps were used for paper in 19th century America when cotton,
rather than wood pulp, was paper's main ingredient.
* The famous Book of the Dead is a 3,000-year-old series of magical
spells that safely sped the deceased from tomb to paradise.
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