Egypt Gallery Now Open!

The new Egypt gallery

The gallery features over 600 objects, most never displayed before, in the best Egyptian collection in the south west. It covers belief, life, death and the afterlife in Ancient Egypt. The gallery is about the people of Egypt and is based on the objects in Bristol's collection. It is a permanent display and all the objects in the gallery are genuine Egyptian artefacts.

[back to top]

What's on display?

When you visit, some of the things you will find are painted coffins, human mummies, animal mummies, figurines, offerings, amulets, statues, funerary masks, a painted funerary couch, toys, tools, and jewellery.  An art installation by Mariele Neudecker is also in the gallery, which visitors become a part of.

A Belzoni exhibition in the Watercolour Gallery (upstairs) displays some amazing paintings from the Egyptian tomb of Pharaoh Sety I.

[back to top]

What's the gallery like?

The River Nile corridor divides the gallery space into two. On one side, you can explore Belief and Life in ancient Egypt: and on the other, displays cover Death and the Afterlife.

• ‘Belief’ - the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, including their views of creation, their gods and their rituals.
• ‘Life’ - the social structure in ancient Egypt, childhood and a variety of different jobs from Pharaoh to farm labourer.
• ‘Death’ - funerary belief, preparation of the body for mummification, coffin symbolism and tombs.
• ‘Afterlife’ - the ancient Egyptians' beliefs about what happened after death, and the need for grave goods, servants, food offerings, and possessions.

In addition there are "satellite" areas offering thought-provoking areas on 'Unwrapping a Mummy', ‘Egyptian Identity’, ‘How do we see Ancient Egypt?’, and 'The Ethics of Displaying the Dead’.

There is an Explore and Respond area where visitors can learn more about the collection, and leave their comments about objects.

[back to top]