Museum developments
Wall decoration in the cenotaph temple of Ramesses II at Abydos
World Museum Liverpool’s Egyptian collection ranks among the finest in the UK, and is both nationally and internationally significant. There are more than 15,000 items in the collection, almost 5,000 of which were donated to the museum by local goldsmith and antiquarian Joseph Mayer in 1867. Over the next century the collection was systematically enhanced through subscription to controlled excavations by the Egypt Exploration Fund, the British School of Archaeology in Egypt and the Liverpool Institute of Archaeology (now University of Liverpool).
The museum developed strong links with Egyptologists at the University of Liverpool and for over a century the city has been a centre for the study of Egyptology. As a result the museum today contains an exceptional and diverse collection of artefacts. Highlights include:
There will be four display areas within the new gallery:
This section will give visitors an understanding of the geography of Egypt. It will use real characters to chart the discovery of ancient Egypt, such as the Liverpool archaeologists who began systematic excavations in the early 1900s, funded by Liverpool patrons.
The 'Egypt: Time and Place' displays will:
Artist's impression of part of the new Egyptian gallery
The displays in this area will show the different people that constituted society in ancient Egypt and display a whole range of material culture. Egypt was rich in natural resources with a small ruling class and a distinctive high culture. This display area will explore how ancient Egyptians coped with life, such as how they protected themselves through the use of magic, appealing to the dead and the gods.
The 'Life in Ancient Egypt' displays will:
A recreated Old Kingdom tomb chapel will represent the Ancient Egyptians' point of potential symbolic access between their world and the hereafter. This piece of monumental architecture will link the ‘life’ and ‘death’ display areas. Artefacts such as the Book of the Dead will be used to explain how the Egyptians believed they could achieve immortality through a series of complicated and sacred rituals. A large and varied collection of mummies and coffins will be used to consider the identity of actual individuals.
'The Egyptian Underworld' displays will:
Curator Ashley Cooke and conservator Tracey Seddon examining an Egyptian coffin
A display area focused on Egypt after the Pharaohs. Objects will illustrate a history of cultural exchange and religious diversity in Egypt and how Egyptian culture has influenced various peoples around the Mediterranean.
'The Legacy of Ancient Egypt' displays will:
The Egyptian gallery at World Museum Liverpool was one of the most popular galleries in the museum. However the gallery was over 30 years old and its interpretation was minimal and outdated. The display cases were no longer suitable for protecting the objects and all needed replacing. In 2006 the museum began a project to create new display areas more appropriate for such an important and popular collection. The new gallery will open on Friday 5 December 2008.
National Museums Liverpool has received funding from the DCMS/Wolfson Foundation Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund for this project. Following this success funding was also received from the Tomlinson Bequest and the Sir Richard Foster Memorial Fund.
On 19 August 2007 the Egyptian gallery at World Museum Liverpool closed to allow the project of renovation and redisplay to be carried out. For five weeks museum staff worked carefully to remove over 1,000 objects from their display cases. 500 objects were selected to feature in a temporary Egypt display at the museum, that has also now closed. Several of the galleries in the Human World section of the museum are also now closed to allow staff vital access to the Egypt gallery. Whilst the building work goes on in the gallery, a team of conservators and technicians are working with the Egyptian collection to prepare objects for display in the new Ancient Egypt gallery, opening on Friday 5 December 2008.
Detail of Papyrus Mayer A. Find out more about this
papyrus
on the National Museums Liverpool blog.
A selection of highlights from the Egyptian collection at World Museum.
In the Reveal gallery at the National Conservation Centre visitors can use cutting edge technology to examine a mummy from our collections. Find out about the mummy of Pedeamun on this website and have a look under his bandages.
Find out more about life in Ancient Egypt in the Nile File interactive.
We will be posting updates about progress with the gallery on the blog. Here are some of the entries so far: