| The
collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts kept in Museo
Egizio in Turin (Piemonte, Italy) is among the
most important in the world. The museum is also involved
in initiatives in the fields of education, public
outreach, fundraising, and the analysis and publication
of the objects in the collection: |
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One of these is a
summer field school for undergraduate students to
obtain experience with work in a museum. Next
to instruction and hands-on work in Museo Egizio,
other museums in Turin are visited to investigate
different approaches towards the conservation and
presentation of cultural heritage objects:
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To participate in the Museology and Egyptian Material Culture Field School to introduce graduate and undergraduate students in aspects of work in a museum, under auspices of the Institute for Field Research and the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio. | |
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- June-July
2017 - June-July 2018 - June-July 2019 Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, this field school was not offered in the summers of 2020 and 2021. Starting June 2022, the organization and supervision was transferred to Dr Caroline Arbuckle-McLeod and Dr Danielle Candelora. - July 2022 - July 2023 - July 2024 |
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Initially graduate
students Vera Rondano and Rachel Moy, later Caroline
Arbuckle-McLeod and Danielle Candelora. |
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| Results: | |
Instruction of graduate and undergraduate students in aspects of museology, including the study and conservation of cultural heritage objects. With this framework, study visits were made to, among others, Palazzo Reale and Palazzo Madama, Basilica di Superga, the Museum of the Holy Shroud, the Museum of Antiquities, the National Film Museum (housed in the iconic Mole Antonelliana), the National Automobile Museum, the Museum of Oriental Art, and the Museum of Criminal Anthropology. The final products of the students were virtual exhibitions of objects kept in Museo Egizio, supplemented with virtual loans from other museums. |
| Approximate position and date of the site: | The collection of
ancient Egyptian artifacts kept in the Museo Egizio
in Turin (Piemonte, northern Italy) is among the most
important in the world. In 1824, King Charles Felix
(1765‒1831) of the House of Savoy—that was ruling Savoy,
Piedmont, Aosta and Sardinia from Turin at the
time—acquired the collection accumulated by Bernardino
Drovetti (1776‒1852), the French consul to Egypt. Once
in Turin it was housed in a large building in the center
of town where it resides until today. The collection was expanded in 1833, with the purchase of more than 1200 objects gathered by Giuseppe Sossio, and again between 1900 and 1920 with more than 35,000 objects excavated and purchased by Ernesto Schiaparelli (1856‒1928). Important constituents of the collection include the Old Kingdom Tomb of the Unknown, the New Kingdom Tomb of Kha and Merit, several complete copies of the Book of the Dead, the Turin List of Kings, and the Turin Papyrus Map. In the 1960s, the Nubian Temple of Ellesiya was presented by the Egyptian to the Italian government—to recognize their assistance during the UNESCO campaign to save the Nubian monuments—and rebuilt in Museo Egizio. |
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| Short description of the site: | The Fondazione
museo delle antichità Egizie was established in
2004 as the result of an innovative public-private
partnership, an experiment in museum management in
Italy. This foundation is responsible for the research,
maintenance, public outreach, permanent or temporary
exhibition of the ancient Egyptian objects in the
collection of Museo Egizio, as well as
initiating and supervising traveling exhibitions,
research and cooperation with national and international
institutions. The Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle
Arti e Paesaggio remains responsible for
safeguarding the collection. The historic building housing the museum was renovated in 2006 and a new permanent exhibition was opened in 2015. Other recent developments include initiatives in the fields of education, public outreach, fundraising, combined with a renewed attention for the analysis and publication of the objects in the collection. In 2016, faculty of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Museo Egizio, the Politecnico di Torino, and the Institute for Field Research agreed to collaborate within several independent, but interconnected projects to advance these aims. |
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| Additional remarks: | My work in Turin would not have been possible without the Institute for Field Research, and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and the Joan Silbee Chair in African Cultural Archaeology. | |
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