The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is distinguished by the profusion of works it contains, in particular the mask of Tutankhamun. But four major European institutions also house spectacular collections of pharaonic art. In Paris, Turin, London or Berlin... follow the guide!
The Great Sphinx of Tanis on display at the Louvre (Paris)
The Louvre (Paris)
Created in 1826, the Department of Egyptian Antiquities had Champollion, the discoverer of hieroglyphics, as its first curator. Sarcophagi, papyri, stelae, bronzes... 50,000 works are gathered there for Pharaonic Egypt, around 4,500 for Roman Egypt and 13,000 for the Coptic section. The most famous are the Crouching Scribe (in reality seated cross-legged) with a hypnotic gaze discovered in 1850 by the Egyptologist Auguste Mariette in a mastaba of Saqqara (4th or 5th dynasty), the stele of the Serpent King (Abydos, 1st dynasty) or the hippopotamus in bright blue earthenware, covered with stylized aquatic plants painted black – such figurines were deposited in the tombs of high officials at the end of the Middle Kingdom. Among the perfectly preserved pieces, the funerary complex of Tamoutnefret is characteristic of the beginning of the Ramesside period, in particular of the 19th dynasty (New Kingdom, c. 1295 – 1186). It was probably brought back by Champollion in 1830. On the lids of the two coffins, the deceased - "mistress of the house" and "singer of Amun", according to the inscriptions on her legs - is represented arms crossed on her chest, in the posture of Osiris, the god presiding over the judgment of the dead, mummified. The gilding that covers his hands, his face and his neck also evokes the flesh of the gods. A representation of Nut, goddess of the sky, adorns the waist of the young woman, her winged arms spreading out to protect her. Likewise, the genies and deities that decorate the funerary ensemble are believed to guarantee Tamoutnefret a safe journey into the afterlife
For more information:www.louvre.fr/departments/Antiquités-égyptiennes
Egizio Museum (Turin)
The Louvre (Paris)
Created in 1826, the Department of Egyptian Antiquities had Champollion, the discoverer of hieroglyphics, as its first curator. Sarcophagi, papyri, stelae, bronzes... 50,000 works are gathered there for Pharaonic Egypt, around 4,500 for Roman Egypt and 13,000 for the Coptic section. The most famous are the Crouching Scribe (in reality seated cross-legged) with a hypnotic gaze discovered in 1850 by the Egyptologist Auguste Mariette in a mastaba of Saqqara (4th or 5th dynasty), the stele of the Serpent King (Abydos, 1st dynasty) or the hippopotamus in bright blue earthenware, covered with stylized aquatic plants painted black – such figurines were deposited in the tombs of high officials at the end of the Middle Kingdom. Among the perfectly preserved pieces, the funerary complex of Tamoutnefret is characteristic of the beginning of the Ramesside period, in particular of the 19th dynasty (New Kingdom, c. 1295 – 1186). It was probably brought back by Champollion in 1830. On the lids of the two coffins, the deceased - "mistress of the house" and "singer of Amun", according to the inscriptions on her legs - is represented arms crossed on her chest, in the posture of Osiris, the god presiding over the judgment of the dead, mummified. The gilding that covers his hands, his face and his neck also evokes the flesh of the gods. A representation of Nut, goddess of the sky, adorns the waist of the young woman, her winged arms spreading out to protect her. Likewise, the genies and deities that decorate the funerary ensemble are believed to guarantee Tamoutnefret a safe journey into the afterlife
For more information:www.louvre.fr/departments/Antiquités-égyptiennes
Egizio Museum (Turin)
The first museum entirely devoted to the culture of ancient Egypt (1824), the Museo Egizio contains more than 30,000 pieces, including the oldest known copy of the Book of the Dead as well as the Turin papyri. It also houses the Temple of Ellesiya built by Thutmose III in Nubia (1430 BC), which was saved during the construction of the Aswan Dam. Director of the museum from 1894 until his death in 1928, Ernesto Schiaparelli unearthed several magnificent tombs. That of Khâ – architect of Amenhotep III – and his wife Mérit is the jewel of the collection. Lively and colorful, the painted decorations of the tomb of Iti and his wife Neferou (New Kingdom) represent scenes of daily life where peasants, sailors and scribes rub shoulders with gazelles, antelopes, donkeys, cows or monkeys.
For more information:www.museoegizio.it
British Museum and Petrie Museum (London)
After the Cairo Museum, the British Museum houses the largest collection of Egyptian artefacts in the world, including the predynastic mummies from Gebelein, a beard fragment from the Sphinx of Giza (4th dynasty) and the famous Rosetta stone (196 BC). J.-C.), at the origin of the decipherment of the hieroglyphs by Champollion. One of the treasures of the museum are the 11 wall paintings that decorated the tomb of the scribe Nebamon (around 1350 BC). Animated and detailed, they represent idealized moments in the life of the deceased, including a hunt in marshes populated by birds and a family banquet where women dance and play the flute. Scenes that bear witness to the civil servant's hope of continuing this pleasant existence in the other world... A stone's throw from the British Museum, the Petrie Museum houses an important collection of Fayum portraits (1st and 2nd centuries) , which were inserted into the bandages of the mummies.
For more information:
- www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/petrie-museum
Neues Museum (Berlin)
Visible at the Neues Museum, the collections of the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung span four millennia of Egyptian history. You can see, among other things, the "green head" of unknown provenance (4th century BC), a sculpture of great expressiveness, as well as a rich set of sarcophagi and papyri. But the museum owes its fame to its collection of treasures from Amarna, the capital of King Akhenaten (c. 1353 – 1337). Among them, the polychrome bust of his wife, Queen Nefertiti; the yew, acacia and gold head of his mother, Queen Tiyi; and the limestone stele immortalizing the spouses, flooded by the divine light of Aten, and three of their daughters. The style of this stone is emblematic of Amarna art:outrageous features (elongated skulls, curved and pleated necks), generous shapes (voluptuous hips for the wife, small belly for the king), insistence on movement (floating ribbons) and impression of perspective.
Egyptian Museum (Cairo)
For more than a century, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo has housed the largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities in the world (more than 160,000 pieces). Its emblematic piece, the death mask of Tutankhamun, recently joined the Grand Egyptian Museum (Gem) where the other works from the king's collection had already been transferred. In their place are exhibited 214 very well preserved pieces:the treasures of Youya and Touya, discovered in 1905 in their tomb in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor). Youya, director of the royal stables and priest of Min, and his wife Touya, singer of Amon, had the privilege of being buried in the necropolis of the sovereigns, as parents of Queen Tiyi, great wife of Amenhotep III ( 1391 – 1353). Among their treasures:the anthropomorphic coffins containing their mummy, their golden mask with blue-emphasized eyes, funerary furniture including Yuya's chariot, or the Yuya papyrus (20 meters long!) inscribed with chapters of the Book of dead.
Pages created by Laureen Bouyssou
This article is from the special issue of Sciences et Avenir "Egypt:the invention of eternity", published in April 2019.