So, while in the UK we are a fair way away from Egypt, there are still plenty of interesting places around the UK, and in Europe a bit further afield to visit that have relevance to the study of ancient Kemet. Here is a place in which we can discuss such places.
UK:
British Museum (London) - an excellent starting point, aside for needing to travel to London for this, which can be expensive. However, the collection is stunning, and huge.
The Petrie Museum of Egyptology (London) - not far from the BM, the Petrie Museum is a small gem of a museum tucked away on a side street round the corner from the Gower Street Waterstones. It houses some very impressive items, including teh world famous net dress, and the oldest surviving clothing ever found.
The Oriental Museum of Durham - only a small room in the museum, but Durham University’s Oriental Museum is still pleasant to visit if you’re in the area. It has a couple of Romano-Egyptian mummies.
World Museum (Liverpool) - home to over 16,000 items from Kemet and Nubia.
So love the Petrie. Lots to see while small, you can still spend all day there. I did a wonderful hands on day there with the EES a year or so ago. Well worth looking out for another curator trip, got to see lots of bits in the draws which they don’t have out that often, handled some amazingly small articles and a great talk too. Plus, we were alone so just a small group.
BM I love but can get a bit too busy for me. Again the EES visit to the Book of The Dead some years ago was amazing. Late at night with no one in there, just a few of us running around like kids all excited.
I adore The Petrie. I only managed a super short flying visit there once, but I want to go back. I’d love to get to have a really in depth chance to examine stuff and properly chat with the more experienced people working there about the collection. I find it utterly heartbreaking that it’s under threat.
I’ve not managed to get to The Ashmolean yet, but would like to go some day.
I agree, the BM is amazing, but a tad busy. I love the main Egyptian galleries, but hated the Gallery of Enligtenment. The feeling in there was not nice, the statues and figures in there felt sad and unhappy, with numerous items feeling not at home and out of place. The room lacked the joyous or reverent and dignified abundance of heka bouncing around the main Egyptian rooms, the heka in there felt muted and sad. :(. Has anyone else felt the same way there?
I don’t know if it’s because its importance is a modern thing, but I find that the Rosetta Stone itself doesn’t have a huge amount of inherent, ancient heka to it. It’s a nice object, but I find that everything else in the room drowns it out.
An interesting thing I’ve noticed is that the ‘back entrance’ doorway for the large statues room, the one flanked by the pair of sphinxes, really hums with power. I’m not sure whether it’s just a cumulative thing from the whole room, but standing there is an energy rush. That room is powerful. The row of Sekhmet statues in the large statues room are rather lovely. I often feel though that the big one in the Enlightenment room would like to be with the others.
Oh, I really want to return to The Petrie. The net dress, and the linen shirt, in the back room, and a few of the statuettes just sang to me. I want to go back and really examine the various stellae.
Will have to take a look at that ‘back entrance’ then. Not sure if I often go down that end often. I tend to get stuck at a sarcophagus thats on the back wall. Its quite a late one but I think is the only one in that room that has a picture of my goddess Selket inside it
I get what you mean by that odd left out Sekhmet statue. I think so too. It seems to be of similar design, but can’t remember if its from the same location. Will have to take a look.
K
I love the BM, my favourite pieces are on show there yet nobody gives them a second look. They are the soul houses that were used for Akhu rites and to ensure ancestors would have sustenance forever. I am working on making a modern version for my own ancestor shrine.
I have never been to the Petrie, so that’s going to be my next outing when I work in London. Thanks for the recommendations.
I think there was one in the room where the mummies are, and two more in the next room.
I am going there tomorrow morning so i will feed back on exact locations live from BM in the morning
I do hear its a great place. The other side of the country for me but its on my todo list Still not been to the Oxford ones and a very long time since I went to the Bristol one. Argh! So many places to go.
so, I have now finally seen the Petrie. OMG. this is going to be my new haunt for the forseeable. The people there were ever so helpful, and their collection is mindblowing.
