– CARTAGENA CITY COUNCIL
The Augusteum of Cartagena hosts from Wednesday the exhibition ‘Treasures of Egypt’, which shows the «exoticism and magic» of the North African country and can be visited until September 30, according to municipal sources reported in a statement.
It is an exhibition that will feature more than a hundred pieces of scale recreation of prized pieces from the Louvre Museum, the British Museum and the Cairo Museum, in which the Rosetta stone discovered in Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, Tutankhamun’s funerary offerings, the statue of the seated scribe, the recreation of the office of the famous archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter and the golden temple of the canopic vases will stand out. For more information and tickets on sale, please visit the link ‘cartagenapuertodeculturas.com’.
Treasures of Egypt’ was presented this Wednesday by the Councillor for Tourism of the City Council of Cartagena, Cristina Perez, who began the tour of the exhibition with: «Soldiers, from the top of these pyramids, forty centuries contemplate you», words that Napoleon harangued his troops in front of the pyramids of Egypt, thus beginning one of the great adventures of archaeology and the birth of Egyptology.
The exhibition, which can be seen in the Augusteum, a Roman temple located in Calle Caballero de Cartagena, aims to bring the general public closer to the civilisation of Ancient Egypt «in a visual, entertaining and experiential way», according to the councillor, where the visitor will descend to the ground level of today’s city to discover the luxury and magic, with the recreation of the mystical journey to the afterlife.
Through a detailed composition of ritual, artistic and architectural elements, the exhibition presents a careful selection of the most representative scenes, elements and works of art of Ancient Egypt. All the recreations that can be seen in the exhibition have been created by volunteers from the Egyptology Department and the Fine Arts Workshop of the Sophia Foundation of Palma de Mallorca.
This exhibition, created entirely by the Sophia Foundation, has been made possible thanks to the joint work of a multidisciplinary team led by Professor Javier Vilar, curator of the exhibition, Egyptologist and president of the Sophia Foundation; Mónica Gutiérrez, graduate in Art History, artistic director of the exhibition and head of the Fine Arts Workshop of the Sophia Foundation; and Herminia Gisbert, Egyptologist, Egyptologist and president of the Sophia Foundation; Herminia Gisbert, Egyptologist and supervisor of the educational content and didactic image of the exhibition and Antonio Marí, technical director, responsible for the installation and assembly of the exhibition, who today accompanied Cristina Pérez in the presentation to the media.
In 2022 the Year of Egyptology was celebrated, as the 200th anniversary of the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone and with it, of hieroglyphic writing, by Jean Françoise Champollion, and the centenary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter, were commemorated at the same time.
Thus, «Cartagena Puerto de Culturas pays tribute with this exhibition where you can see through passages, as if we were inside a pyramid, the evolution of the burials, the recreation of the scientific expeditions, the grave goods with their magical amulets, the ritual of mummification and the magnificent chamber of the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun,» added Pérez.
Around the exhibition there will be activities aimed at all audiences, such as the guided tour ‘In the footsteps of Cleopatra’, the dramatised family musical ‘Teo and the Magic Sarcophagus’, the art workshop ‘Constellations: workshop of chameleons’ and the family escape room ‘Mystery of Tutankhamun’.
Treasures of Egypt’ can be visited at the Augusteum until 30 September, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 19:00.