A collection of 180 treasures from ancient Egypt has been unveiled in London. These artifacts, spanning the reign of Egypt's most powerful pharaoh, offer the British public a rare opportunity to discover objects that have remained virtually untouched by Egypt for three thousand years.
This face, covered in thick gold leaf molded in the likeness of King Amenemope of the 21st Dynasty, sets the tone for the exhibition entitled: “Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs.”
“We believe in the importance of sharing what we have with humanity and with other nations, and we are also using it as a teaser, so to speak, or a preview so that people can imagine what they will see in Egypt when they visit the country,” said Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities .
The exhibition brings together treasures loaned by the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, from museums and archaeological sites across Egypt. London is the final stop on a world tour that has already visited Houston, San Francisco, Sydney, Paris, Cologne, and Tokyo.
“London is the sixth city, and so far, Ramses has travelled 50,000 kilometers around the world aboard two 747 aircraft. Security, logistics, police, army, everything is there. I mean, the logistics are mind-blowing,” explained Andres Numhauser, senior vice president of NEON World Heritage Exhibition.
The second part of the exhibition is devoted to death and what the ancient Egyptians did to overcome it. It presents the fundamental belief of an entire civilization, the one that produced these objects, these coffins, these masks, and this obsessive and magnificent refusal to accept oblivion.
“Bringing this type of art, this work of art, to London means a great deal. We must share the beauty and talent of the artisans who created this piece with London,” said Dr. Hisham El-Leithy, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities.
A significant portion of the exhibition's proceeds goes towards funding conservation work in Egypt, including the complete restoration of Ramses II's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, now open to the public for the first time in a generation.
