Starting Friday, Nashvillians will have the rare opportunity to peer into this ancient [Egyptian] culture through an exhibit hosted by the Frist called The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt.

The largest collection of artefacts ever loaned out by the Egyptian government for display in North America, the exhibit explores the ancient Egyptians' fascination with death and the afterlife through the opulent and meticulously crafted objects they created to ensure their passage into immortality. The project has been in the works for nearly four years, and many of the 107 artefacts have never been viewed outside of Egypt.

“The exhibit gives a good view into our civilization,” said Egyptian archaeologist Maged Hafez, who was on hand at the Frist to help unpack the artefacts and educate the museum’s staff on their importance. “People will learn about our art, the steps of mummification, ink preparation, about the inscriptions on statues, papyrus paper.”

The exhibition is divided into six themes: the New Kingdom, the Reign of Thutmose III, Tombs of Nobles, Royal Tombs, the Realm of the Gods, and the Tomb of Thutmose III and the Amduat (a funerary text, reserved only for pharaohs or those favoured by the noble class)...

Frist ancient Egyptian exhibit is largest of its kind, The Nashville City Paper, Tennessee, USA, June 08, 2006.

When Giuseppe Passalacqua went to Egypt in the 1820s his plan was to do a bit of horse-trading. He soon discovered a more lucrative line of work — excavating ancient tombs and selling off their contents. While Passalacqua found many priceless treasures, unlike most tomb-robbers he also made off with the more mundane. If something could be carried off, it was — right down to the dried-up offerings left to feed the ancients in the afterlife. Among these were some strange shrivelled fruits that have posed a series of puzzles ever since. They came from some sort of palm tree, but not one anyone recognised. Had the tree vanished along with the pharaohs?

In 1826 Giuseppe Passalacqua, an Italian horse-trader turned tomb-digger, left Egypt and headed for Paris. His plan was to show off his vast collection of Egyptian antiquities and tempt the French government into buying it for the Louvre. Passalacqua had excavated tombs at several sites in Egypt and had made important discoveries. He was the first to investigate an intact burial, complete with mummy, coffins and funeral offerings, all of which he added to his haul. But although the French were fascinated by all things Egyptian, they baulked at Passalacqua's price. Disappointed, he took his collection to Berlin, where he sold it to Crown prince Frederick of Prussia for a knock-down price plus a job for life as director of the Berlin Museum.

Passalacqua's diligence in stripping tombs clean meant there was plenty in his collection for the serious scientist. For Carl Kunth, Berlin's leading botanist of the day, the greatest treasure was the assortment of plant material preserved since the days of the pharaohs. Among the bits and pieces, Kunth was intrigued to find three sorts of palm fruit. He recognised dates and the fruits of the doum palm but he couldn't identify the third. Although he had only dried and shrivelled fruits, Kunth knew they came from a tree that was new to science. He named it Areca passalacquae. Others simply called it the Egyptologists' palm...

Egyptologists' palm nearly extinct, New Scientist via FreeRepublic.

cf. Histories: Fruits of the tomb, Stephanie Pain, New Scientist, UK, Issue 2554, June 03, 2006, p. 54.

Ancient Egypt was brought to life during Museums and Galleries Month, in a family-friendly workshop called Putting Egypt on Display held at Bristol’s City Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday May 13 2006.

There was a chance to see a range of artefacts close-up and to meet the team of conservators who have spent the last year preparing them for display in the museum’s new Egypt gallery, due to open in spring 2007.

“We wanted to do something special for Museums and Galleries Month,” said Ticca Ogilvie, the Egypt department’s Conservation Manager. “The Egypt gallery has been closed since last May, and we wanted to make up for it by holding an event that adults could enjoy as well as children”...

Putting Egypt on display at Bristol City Museum for MGM 2006, 24-Hour Museum, UK, June 07, 2006.

Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798 had all the earmarks of colonial expansionism. Under the guise of freeing the Egyptians from the oppressive Mamelukes, he aimed to bring the eastern Mediterranean into the French orbit and threaten Britain's trade routes to India.

One aspect of the expedition, however, reflected the nobler impulses of the Enlightenment: the 150 "savants" — mathematicians, engineers, architects, artists, natural scientists, Orientalists — brought along to record all they could of ancient and contemporary Egypt. Militarily, the expedition proved to be a disaster, but its legacy was the remarkable "Description de l'Egypte," an immense compendium of texts and engravings that sparked the beginnings of Egyptology and the European public's appetite for Egyptian-themed paintings and objets d'art...

All The Emperor's Savants, The New York Sun, New York, USA, June 08, 2006. Subscription required.