Egyptian treasures come to Forli
More than 440 finds to go on show
18 August, 16:27
(ANSA) - Forli - An astonishing array of Ancient Egyptian artefacts dating back four millennia is set to go on display in an exhibition opening in the eastern Italian town of Forli in September.
More than 400 items will go on show, all discovered by the great Italian Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli nearly a century ago during excavations in the Nile Valley.
Schiaparelli, one of the founding fathers of Italian Egyptology, made the finds between 1908 and 1920, not long after he discovered Queen Nefertari's tomb in the Valley of the Queens. During this period, the burial sites of Asyut and Gebelein yielded up an extraordinary wealth of treasures dating to between 2100 and 1900 BC.
The centrepiece of the exhibition will be a remarkable collection of 12 sarcophagi made of stuccoed word and painted with ritual funerary inscription. In many cases, the hieroglyphic lettering has allowed Egyptologists to decipher the names of administrators and small landholders living in that part of the world over 4,000 years ago.
A number of the sarcophagi, which still housed mummies when they were found, also contained funerary treasures buried along with the deceased and intended to accompany them into the afterlife.
This has given Italian archaeologists a host of information about everyday life and helped them reconstruct the social and cultural milieu of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Vases, mirrors, headrests, sandals, bows and arrows, wooden boxes, and models of animals, boats and farming activities have all provided vital clues to ancient life.
After their discovery a century ago, the finds were shipped back to Italy and sent to Turin's Egyptian Museum, home to the largest collection of Egyptian treasures in the world outside Cairo. Most of the pieces remained in storage for decades but recent efforts to extend the museum and make the most of its incredible collection brought these back to the attention of archaeologists after decades of neglect.
Following months of study and careful reconstruction, these ancient artefacts are now ready to go on public display for the first time.
Although the focus of the exhibition will be on Ancient Egyptian culture, it will also seek to recreate the excitement and wonder of the excavations carried out by the Italian Archaeology Mission. Entitled Egitto mai visto. Le dimore eterne di Assiut e Gebelein (Unseen Egypt. The Eternal Dwellings of Asyut and Gebelein), the exhibition will be on show at Forli's San Domenico Museum from September 11 until January 9.
