Turin got back its Egyptian museum after a 50-million-euro revamp and three years of renovation work. For the first time, visitors will have the chance to see the whole of the museum, famous for housing the world’s second-largest collection of Egyptian antiquities.
The Museo delle Antichità Egizie is the only museum other than the Cairo Museum dedicated to Egyptian art and culture. Many international scholars, who came to Turin in 1824, spent time pouring over the collections. The collections that make up today’s Museum were enlarged by the excavations conducted in Egypt by the Museum’s archaeological mission between 1900 and 1935 (a period when finds were divided between the excavators and Egypt).
Six and a half thousand objects are on display and 26,000 objects in storage. Much of this material is not available because of the lack of display space, the conservation needs, and because some objects are really only of interest to scholars and not to the general public.
Although the museum did not close during the renovation, individual sections were shut off for certain periods and officials expressed delight that the work was finished on schedule and reopen on April 1.
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