Egypt: 3000 years of advanced civilization on the Nile

Since March 2021, the Museum of Antiquities has been presenting its Egyptian collection in a new, immersive staging with participatory and interactive content. The formerly purely art-historical and chronological orientation of the exhibits gives way in favor of a cultural-historical approach that addresses six central themes:

The Discovery and Exploration of Pharaonic Egypt.

The first theme is devoted to the discovery of ancient Egypt, in which personalities from Basel are also involved. For example, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt from Basel discovered the great Ramses Temple at Abu Simbel in 1813, and the Basel painter Johann Jakob Frey accompanied the German explorer Carl Richard Lepsius as a draftsman on his Egypt expedition in 1840. A walk-through video platform takes visitors on a journey through time in this thematic section, and a magnificent map presents the pharaonic monuments from a bird's eye view.

The beginnings of pharaonic civilization

In this section, the prerequisites for the emergence of the Egyptian advanced civilization and its geographical spread are shown. 6000 year old vessels made of clay and stone amaze because of their modern and abstract-looking forms.

Everyday life on the Nile

The area of everyday life is particularly diverse. Earth hoe, hammer or scribe's palette show how farmers, craftsmen or scribes worked in ancient Egypt about 4000 years ago. Utensils for beauty care, clothes, musical instruments and magic props also tell of everyday life on the Nile. Representations of animals and plants complete the picture.

Death and the afterlife

"You die so that you may live," an ancient Egyptian text says promisingly. The Egyptians always work towards their life after death and firmly believe in their regeneration in the afterlife. The course of the sun plays a central role in this, as the richly decorated tomb furnishings tell us. The most modern techniques even allow insights into mummies and decipher the life story of the deceased. Visitors are transported into the mystical world of the afterlife.

The world of the gods

The gods of Egypt are the creators of the world and all life, which they maintain and renew again and again. Who does not know the dog-headed Anubis or the ibis-headed Thot. But the mixed form is not the only representation of the gods, they are multiform. In this area, visitors gain insight into the world of Egyptian deities. It is explained how people paid homage to them and what they expected in return from the gods.

Egypt at the time of globalization

Like the beginning, the end of the Egyptian advanced civilization is shown as an epoch. With the conquest of Alexander the Great, Egypt became Greek in 332 B.C., and under Emperor Augustus it became a Roman province from 30 B.C. onwards. Egypt is successively included in the globalization of the Mediterranean region since the 3rd century BC. Migration and multiculturalism or the problems arising from it have a surprising topicality. The cultural mixtures have given rise to delightful new creations in the most diverse art forms, which are shown here.

Thanks to the six thematic areas, a clear, instructive and exciting access to ancient Egypt is guaranteed. The main protagonists are 600 exhibits, which are distinguished by their diversity, colorfulness and excellent state of preservation. In combination with an immersive exhibition design, visitors are completely immersed in the bygone but not forgotten world of the ancient Egyptians.

The new exhibition also includes a children's trail. At eight stations, visitors can playfully discover ancient Egyptian civilization. The tour offers varied entertainment for young and old.

Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.