Epping Forest District Museum is excited to have objects from the Egypt Centre on display in their new exhibition ‘Animal Mummies: Uncovered’. The exhibition is family friendly, with adventure trails, interactive displays, holograms, and the chance to learn more about the history of animal mummification through scientific techniques. To give you a taster, Ian Channell (Collections Officer), provides a summary of the museum and walks us through some of the key things visitors will see on their visit.
History of Museum
Epping Forest District Museum, managed by
Epping Forest District Council, collects and preserves objects found within or
linked to the Epping Forest District, one of the twelve local councils within
the county of Essex. The Museum is currently based in two Tudor and Georgian
buildings on Sun Street in Waltham Abbey (fig. 1). The Museum retains over 100,000 objects,
covering archaeology, world culture, social history, fine and applied art,
photography, oral history and costumes and textiles.
Figure 1: External view of Epping Forest District Museum on Sun Street in Waltham Abbey. |
Exhibition
Schedule
The Museum has an
active exhibition schedule, showcasing three temporary exhibitions a year, each
bringing a new and engaging story to the pre-existing displays and the council’s
community programmes. To keep the exhibitions unique and dynamic, the museum
regularly loans objects for fixed periods from external museums and
institutions.
Introduction to
current exhibition and why we have it
The Museum is
fortunate this year to have an exciting exhibition entitled Animal Mummies:
Uncovered on now until the 17th December 2022. The exhibition showcases
newly remodelled exhibition components from a Natural History Museum Tring and Manchester Museum exhibition. The
exhibition examines animal mummies given as gifts to the gods in ancient Egypt.
Most mummies presented to the gods were known as votive offerings, like a
prayer in the form of an object. To tell this story, we are extremely excited
to have on display objects from Saffron Walden Museum (in the northwest
of Essex) and the Egypt Centre in Swansea.
Adventure Trails
In our exhibition,
the museum visitor first encounters a hologram display which invites them to
participate as one of three characters, each following a unique adventure trail
around the exhibition and museum; an Explorer which is ‘easy’, Anubis which is ‘tricky’,
and an Archaeologist which is ‘expert’ (fig. 2). Each thematic trail allows individuals,
regardless of age or ability, to engage further with the topic and learn more
about the fascinating history of animal mummies in ancient Egypt and the roles archaeologists
and scientists play in helping researchers learn more.
Figure 2: The Anubis Adventure Trail. A talking hologram invites individuals to find amulets hidden around the museum. |
Catacomb Entrance
Once a visitor has
picked their character, individuals then enter the exhibition through a faux catacomb.
With mudbrick and limestone walls, flickering storm lanterns, arched niches,
and a small hole in a bricked-up door through which visitors can see a candlelit
wall painting, the catacomb ‘sets the scene’ and creates an atmospheric start
to the exhibition (fig. 3).
Figure 3: Catacomb entrance to the exhibition with an illuminated Anubis in the distance. |
Room 1
In the first room,
visitors explore the landscape and religion of ancient Egypt, with display
cases dedicated to the stories of Horus and Bastet. Horus, one of the most
important deities of ancient Egypt, was a god of many things, but most
importantly kingship and the sky. He is associated with birds, most frequently
the falcon and other birds of prey. Mummified birds of prey and statues of
Horus are on display, including, from the Egypt Centre, a mummified bird in a
wooden coffin (W535), which
represents the god Horus as a crowned falcon (fig. 4). The coffin would have been covered with
gesso and brightly painted.
Figure 4: The display case with Horus-related objects. |
On the other side
of the room, visitors can learn about the goddess Bastet, who was usually depicted
as a cat or cat-headed woman and associated with fertility and pregnancy. To
accompany this story, mummified cats and statues of Bastet are on display,
including a beautifully painted cartonnage mask (W529) from the Egypt
Centre, which would have been placed on the face of a mummified cat (fig. 5).
Figure 5: The display case with Bastet related objects. |
Room 2
In the next room, the use of non-invasive scientific analysis to examine animal mummies is discussed. In hospitals, X-rays, and CT (computed tomography) scans are sometimes used to examine animal mummies in the same way as living patients. Scans show researchers if animal remains are inside the wrapping, their condition, and can indicate how the mummies were made. Mummies from the Egypt Centre, some of which have been analysed with Micro-3D Computed Tomography by Professor Richard Johnston and his team at Swansea University, are displayed (fig. 6).
Figure 6: Display case with mummies which have been analysed. |
Interactives
Fun and engaging interactives
on this side of the gallery invite visitors to smell, touch, and use
magnification to investigate the materials the ancient Egyptians used to make
mummies, as well as use CT scans to investigate the components of different animal
mummies, such as a crocodile and cat (fig. 7).
Figure 7: Room 2 interactives. |
Conclusion
We are very
grateful to Dr Ken Griffin and the staff at the Egypt Centre for facilitating
the loan; it’s a real joy to have them on display for our visitors! We are also
grateful to the Wellcome Collection for allowing these objects to travel from
Swansea to Essex for this exhibition. The objects bring to life the history of
animal mummification and add to a story that has not been told at the museum
before. The objects from the Egypt Centre can be viewed here. If you are
visiting Essex, please do stop by the museum to uncover the story of animal mummies
and see these amazing Egypt Centre objects in an entirely new setting for
yourself!
To accompany the
exhibition, we have organised two Zoom talks on animal mummies by Dr Ken
Griffin and Prof. Paul Nicholson, which can be booked here:
https://eppingforestdc.bookinglive.com/book/add/p/596
https://eppingforestdc.bookinglive.com/book/add/p/597
And stay up to
date with the museum’s exhibitions visit our website: Home - Epping Forest District Museum
(eppingforestdc.gov.uk)) and social media channels:
Twitter - EFD Museum (@EFDMuseum) / Twitter
Facebook - Epping Forest District Museum | Facebook
Instagram - Epping Forest District Museum (@efdmuseum)
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