Belonging to a place like Italy, where art and culture can be admired everywhere, is truly fortunate. We do not always realize how boundless the beauty of our peninsula is, and above all how important our intangible heritage is. Today we take you to the Egyptian Museum of Turin, one of the most popular museums in the world. Thanks to the quality of its finds and its fantastic collections, it is considered second only after that of Cairo!
The Turin Museum: the history of the ancient Egyptians a stone's throw from the city center
It is known that Egyptian culture has always attracted the collective imagination not only of Italians, but also of other inhabitants of Europe. In the nineteenth century, following the French archaeological excavations in Egypt, the collecting Egyptian antiquities became a real fashion. Every noble and nobleman wanted something that recalled the traditions of this so peculiar people: Bernardino Drovetti, consul general of France during the occupation in Egypt, used to collect statues, sarcophagi, mummies, papyri, amulets and various jewels, so much so that he came to own about 8000 pieces. Not only. Not even kings were immune to the charm of the land of the pyramids! In 1824, King Carlo Felice decided to buy an Egyptian collection for the considerable sum of 400.000 lire (which for the time represented a really nice sum!). The king later built the first Egyptian museum in the world, also collecting other valuable works.
At the end of the nineteenth century the then director of the museum, Ernesto Schiaparelli, acquired further collections, and personally attended important excavation campaigns in Egypt. Thus it was that the Egyptian Museum was able to keep over 30.000 pieces inside. These testified not only to the history of ancient Egypt, but also to the everyday life of ordinary people. The Egyptian Museum is in fact entirely dedicated to the art of the Egyptians, and you can find mummies, papyri and everything related to the culture of this civilization.. Finally, this wonderful museum is also equipped with an important library, as well as restoration and study areas. As if that weren't enough, in 2013 he ranked among the fifty museums best in the world according to the Times, a famous British newspaper.
The Egyptian Museum of Turin, Italian pride
The museum has undergone renovation and expansion works in order to ensure its optimal functioning and carrying capacity for such an abundant flow of tourists. Today the museum is divided into four floors, with a chronological visit path. There are many important works, including the Royal Canon, known as Papyrus of Turin, one of the most important sources on the succession of Egyptian rulers. There are also the painted fabric from Gebelein and discovered by Giulio Farina, and the seductive statues of the Egyptian goddesses Isis and Sekhmet. Finally, there could not have been the sculptures of the proud Ramesses II, discovered by Vitaliano Donati in the temple of Karnak. The inside of the Museum is like characterized by an aura of mystery and charm, which almost catapults the visitor into the typical atmosphere of the Kingdom of the ancient Egyptians.
Its importance is such that the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities has assigned the management of the Museum's collections to Egyptian Antiquities Museum Foundation. The Piedmont Region and the Province of Turin are part of this initiative, as well as the Turin Savings Bank Foundation. This maneuver will allow the Egyptian Museum of Turin to be managed in the best possible way, and to enjoy funding from the banking foundations. What can I say, those who have not yet been there must certainly go there. When is it going to happen again to have an Indiana Jones adventure in the historic center of one of our cities?
#/media/File:Tomb_of_Kha_(TT8)_objects1.jpg){kind=link}