The CaixaForum Madrid exhibition in collaboration with the British Museum shows six bodies from ancient Egypt and their sarcophagi. The collection will travel to Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza
Six people who lived in ancient Egypt along the Nile River have come back to life in the new exhibition at the CaixaForum in Madrid, which will be available until October 26. An official, two priests, a woman, a child and a young man mummified thousands of years ago are discovered under their bandages without having to unwrap themselves. With the help of tomography and three-dimensional printing, the bodies and the elements that are preserved under the dozens of layers of textile have been reconstructed.
The mummy collection is part of the inventory of the British Museum. Six of the 120 archaeological treasures have been chosen because they are considered more interesting and diverse. This scientific experience joins with the culture to be an approximation to the life of the citizens of the ancient civilization. The purpose is to recover the “romantic” idea, to get away from the terror that is usually the common perspective to know their daily stories.
The wrapped corpses have been placed next to their sarcophagi. In addition, in the rooms you can see more than 200 items found inside the coffins. Their portraits have been illustrated on the coffins of the child and the woman. In the minor’s, there is a more realistic image, almost a photograph of her face. While in the one of Takhenemet (the «lady of the house») a figure can be seen holding a musical instrument known as a sistrum. The curators Marie Vandenbeusch and Daniel Antoine explain that it is the way in which she wanted to be remembered in life and presented to the gods during her death.
In their effort to keep the corpse intact, they used many meters of bandages. But science has revealed through digital representations that the fragile remains have not lasted as desired. With videos and animations, the scanner of each one shows the state of the bones, the position of the body and how they preserved the organs.
In ancient Egypt it was believed that preservation was necessary for the person to continue living in the afterlife. Therefore, packaging was a process that only the elite population had access to. The ultimate goal was to follow the path of Osiris, god of the afterlife and the first to be mummified.
The exhibition explores the lives of six people who lived in ancient Egypt through objects from the British Museum. /
The exhibition, which is coming to Spain for the first time, begins with Ameniryirt (600 BC), a high-ranking public official from Thebes. The man was in his 40s when he died and suffered from soft tissue cancer. This is one of the examples of the existence of diseases for many years. Just with him begins one of the sections of the exhibition that deals with human pathologies: dental ailments, arteriosclerosis and tumors.
With the priest Nesperennub (800 BC) the amulets with which the deceased were buried are known. The tomography shows the “magical” objects that protected their owner. The figures of gods, usually represented in the form of animals, have been reconstructed with 3D printing.
a small sarcophagus
The only woman in this exhibition is Takhenemet, (700 BC). She was buried like a matrioshka: in three sarcophagi, one inside the other. The curious element is her hair. Her corpse, which is that of a married lady according to her inscriptions on her tomb, retains her hairstyle in a bun.
Of all, the most interesting is the small sarcophagus that contains the body of a child no more than four years old (40-55 AD). He was buried along with two other minors and two women, but the option of them being a family has been ruled out. The wooden horse with which he was sent to the afterlife stands out. “This reminds us of the humanity behind the mummies,” reflects the curator.
The closure is in charge of a young Greco-Roman who was 17 or 18 years old when he died. He is covered with a gold-colored mask to impress the gods, who were considered to have golden skin. The mysterious teenager was the victim of a possible usurpation. The digital images reveal that there is a great disorder in the contents of his chest and abdominal cavity. Perhaps someone agreed after being mummified to steal the highly valuable amulets.
The mummies will travel to the CaixaForum in Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Zaragoza to continue rediscovering their lives after death.
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