Egyptian secrets are a hit with visitors to Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
School half term last week brought visitors in their hundreds every day to enjoy Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery’s temporary exhibition “Secret Egypt-Unravelling Truth From Myth”. The exhibition, sponsored by solicitors Lanyon Bowdler, challenges our perceptions of the ancient Egyptian civilisation handed down through popular culture.
It has been curated by the Hertbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry from Birmingham Museum Trust’s collection of Egyptology. In the nine days of the half term holiday, the former Music Hall in Shrewsbury has been visited by 2,251 people.
Many schoolpupils are studying Egypt, so the exhibition has provided them with the chance to get close to real artefacts excavated from tombs and other ancient sites. The exhibition has interactive elements which children have enjoyed, such as dressing up and making a pyramid. However, the real star of the show is the mummified body of Namenkhetamun, who died in around 600BC. There’s plenty for film buffs to enjoy too, including a model of the Temple at Abu Simbel used in the 1966 film “Khartoum” starring Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier, and posters from the films “Indiana Jones” and “The Mummy”.
Tina Woodward, Shropshire Council’s deputy Cabinet member responsible for museums, said:
“It’s been amazing to see how successful the Secret Egypt exhibition has been, and to read many of the appreciative comments online and on the feedback forms. The exhibition will be with us right through the Easter holidays until 26 April 2015, so there’s plenty of time for those who have not yet been to enjoy it.”
Further information
For more details contact Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery on 01743 258885 or email shrewsburymuseum@shropshire.gov.uk
