A bit of a scary exhibition. Ancient Egypt

An exhibition for children and adults dedicated to the culture of Ancient Egypt.

The exhibition presents objects from the Egyptian collections of the Perm Art Gallery and the Museum of History of Perm University, which allow you to look into the Ptolemaic era and get acquainted with the traditional rituals of the ancient Egyptians, which frighten modern people; their ideas about life; hieroglyphic writing; canons of the image of gods and other characteristic features of ancient Egyptian culture.

Among the exhibits are magical amulets and ushabti figurines (funerary cult objects), images of ancient gods and goddesses, the Book of the Dead papyrus and other rarely shown items.

For the first time after restoration, two ancient Egyptian mummies from the collection of the Perm Gallery will be shown. The mummies came into the gallery’s collection in 1920 from the Panopticon Museum. They were shown only twice - in the 1950s in the gallery exhibition and in 1998 - 2000 at the exhibition “From the Nile to the Pontus Euxine”, dedicated to the art of Egypt and antiquity.

In 2021, the mummies and sarcophagi were sent for restoration to the Moscow Phenomenon Restoration Center. As a result of comprehensive research carried out during the restoration process, it turned out that the mummies belonged to Egyptians who lived in the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. The sarcophagi date back to earlier periods of Egyptian history. The dating of one of the sarcophagi, covered with plot compositions on mythological themes related to the posthumous fate of its owner in the kingdom of the dead, was pushed back almost 700 years and dated back to the 11th – 7th centuries BC.

In 2023, the restored mummies were demonstrated at the State Museum of Oriental Art (Moscow) at the exhibition “From the Banks of the Nile to the Banks of the Kama.” And finally, they will be shown to the people of Perm.

A special feature of the new exhibition is the juxtaposition of authentic works with an interactive, playful presentation of material. Adaptation of the hieroglyphic alphabet in the drawings on the wall, interactive models of the pyramids, sarcophagus and burial chamber, and a hand-drawn guide to the exhibition - all this will help young viewers in perceiving the complex topic of ancient Egyptian culture. In addition, an educational program has been prepared for the exhibition, including excursions, lectures, and master classes for different ages.