Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Museo Egizio, Turin

http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=72824&section=artstravel
A description of the ancient Egyptian collections in the Turn museum of Egyptology, which has opened a new gallery in time for the 2006 Winter Olympics, and has one of the biggest collections outside Egypt: "Opened in 1824 in a 17th-century Jesuit building, the Museo Egizio has about 6,500 artifacts on display and more than 26,000 in storage. The massive collection was started by Bernardino Drovetti, a Turin-born French diplomat who amassed a hoard of artifacts during his time in Egypt. Later, pieces came from Italy's share in joint archaeological projects with Egyptian authorities, while the museum's latest acquisition, the rock-cut Temple of Ellesija, was donated by the African country. Most of the insight the museum offers into the daily lives of the Egyptians comes from what they left behind for their dead."

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