Hype about the pharaoh’s sarcophagus

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In the run-up to the opening on Friday, more than 145,000 tickets had already been sold. While the exhibition at the Grande Halle de la Villette, which runs until September 6, has already been shown in San Francisco and Houston, the sarcophagus of Ramses II is only shown in Paris – in gratitude and recognition, as the Egyptian ambassador said Ehab Ahmed Badawy at the unveiling of the sarcophagus earlier this week. Because in 1976, the more than 3000-year-old mummy was treated by French scientists against increasing fungal damage.

The sarcophagus of the King of Kings, as it is also known, was then received as a head of state – with a red carpet and much pomp. It was the first time the sarcophagus left Egypt. Since then he would not have left the country on the Nile.

More than 180 objects are presented in Paris, including royal masks, statues and jewelry. On display for the first time outside Egypt are the head of a statue of the pharaoh, the outer coffin of Sennedjem – an artist who decorated the tombs of Seti I and Ramses II – and animal mummies. The mummies of cats, crocodiles and mongooses have only recently been discovered. The Egyptians worshiped animals as representations of the gods and mummified them.

With videos and reconstructions of burial chambers, the exhibition immerses the visitor in the time of the great pharaoh, to whom countless superlatives are attributed. He was born about 1303 BC. Born and died in the nineties 1213 BC. With a tenure of 66 years, he was one of the longest-serving heads of state in the world. He had several wives who bore him more than 100 children. He had numerous palaces and temples built, such as the one in Abu Simbel.

His coffin is enthroned in the exhibition under a display cabinet. Behind that is a video showing a replica of his face in his 30s and 80s – and eventually as a mummy. After Paris, the show will be shown in Sydney.

(SDA)

Source: Blick