Gods and Mortals of Ancient Egypt

The National History Museum of Transylvania announces the opening of the exhibition Gods and Mortals of Ancient Egypt, the main objective of a large project of research and restoration of historical artifacts from the Egyptian Collection of MNIT, a project financed by SEE Grants 2014 - 2021, within the RO-CULTURE Program (project code CALL01-4), the call on “Supporting innovative exhibitions with restored movable cultural goods”. The event will take place on Friday, September 2, 2022, starting at 1:00 p.m., at the MNIT building, nr. 2 C-tin Daicoviciu Str.

The Egyptian collection, one of the collections in the preferences of the local public, comes before the visitors in an innovatively designed space with multimedia applications, modern and interactive technology. The exhibition itself brings in the foreground the pieces from the Egyptian collection of MNIT, donated to the Transylvanian Museum in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the central piece being a human mummy in a painted wooden coffin, discovered at Gamhud, in Middle Egypt. The pieces illustrate a history of more than 2,000 years, during which the Egyptians embalmed and buried their deceased so that they could continue their lives in the world “beyond”. In addition to funerary objects, the exhibition also highlights votive objects, as well as objects of daily use.

To be ready for exposure, the 49 artefacts underwent conservation and restoration procedures, and the human mummy, along with mummified human organs and mummified animals, were also subjected to medical imaging investigations, procedures that resulted in obtaining extremely interesting results, which will be revealed for the first time, during the exhibition. Interesting details about mummification techniques and the role of this ritual in Egyptian beliefs will also be presented. All this exhibition approach will be illustrated by means of a documentary film, which presents step by step the development of the project and the observations of the specialists involved in the project.

We didn’t forget the little ones either. As the stories related to Egypt are a true magnet for them, we have created a special space dedicated to museum pedagogy activities, where we will hold thematic workshops designed specifically for this theme.

The exhibition will be visited during the working hours of MNIT

GODS AND MORTALS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Project financed by the EEA Grants 2014 – 2021 within the RO-CULTURE Programme

Contract no. RO-CULTURA-A1-2/2020/31.01.2020

Project duration: February 2020 – September 2022

Contract value: 615,547.61 LEI (128,719.10 EURO)

The general objective: the promotion of the Egyptian collection, by creating an innovative exhibition, with preserved and restored objects.

The EEA grants represent the contribution of Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Kingdom of Norway to the reduction of economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area and to the strengthening of bilateral relations with the 15 beneficiary states in Eastern and Southern Europe and the Baltic states. In total, the three states contributed €3.3 billion between 1994 and 2014 and €1.55 billion for the 2014-2021 funding period. More details are available at: www.eeagrants.org and www.eeagrants.ro.

The RO-CULTURE program is implemented by the Ministry of Culture through the Project Management Unit and has as its general objective the consolidation of economic and social development through cultural cooperation, cultural entrepreneurship and cultural heritage management. More details are available at: www.ro-cultura.ro