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The story of Italy's Egyptian museum
U
sually people thinking about Ancient Egypt (3150-50 BC) imagine wide deserts in Africa with giant pyramids and sphinxes, gods and mummies near the Nile, but there’s a big piece of Egypt in the city from where I write monthly for the Star-Revue, namely Turin, which is in the northwest portion of Italy. Here, 2000 miles away from Egypt, there’s a museum which houses more than 30 thousand artifacts from the Pharaohs’ land - the Egyptian Museum of Turin. The museum, founded in 1824, is now directed by Christian Greco, 45, a well-known Egyptologist I had the pleasure to talk with about what is today the second largest archeological collection of ancient
by Dario Pio Muccilli
Egypt worldwide, smaller only than the Cairo’s Museum, in Egypt itself. “We are a very well-known museum with a very large history, which has its roots in the Kingdom of Sardinia (which ruled on the north-west, ed), one of the states that existed before Italy became united in 1861. In 1824, the Kingdom, like all of Europe, was hit with a kind of Egyptomania amidst upper classes, especially among diplomats who collected thousands of Egyptian finds, shipping them from Egypt to the Italian motherland” tells Mr. Greco.
made up of ancient stones, tablets and artefacts, which were sold to King Charles Felix of Sardinia back in 1824, even thanks to Vidua claiming that “only buying this collection Italy would become a great country”. “He was right”, says Mr Greco, “Buying the collection Italy had the opportunity to become a global landmark for scholars, giving more respectability to the country on the international scenario. So there was even a political will behind such a cultural choice to set up a Museum.”
The collections of that time are still the heart of the Museum, that owe some thanks to the explorer Carlo Vidua, who raised during years of exploration a personal collection
country then, the King, as well as Sardinia’s officials, saw in ancient Egypt an example of an organized state, which was exactly the goal they were
The Tomb of Kha, discovered in 1906 during the excavation campaign carried out by the Italian archaeological mission in Deir-elMedina, is the most impressive and remarkable ensemble of the whole museum. Dating back to 3,500 BC, it houses sarcophagi and statues, as well as furniture, garments and Besides, being Italy still not a united grooming items.
trying to achieve throughout the entire peninsula.
(continued on page 16)