The Launch of the Harrogate Egyptian Collection Online

On Saturday 7th October, the Egypt Centre hosted a full day of celebrations to mark its 25th-anniversary. There were many special announcements, including the launch of the first exhibition of the Harrogate material, the display of the Djedhor the Saviour statue in the House of Death gallery, and the launch of the Harrogate Egyptian Collection online (fig. 1). The entire day was a fantastic experience and a good reminder of the amazing work of both staff and volunteers over the last quarter of a century. There were poignant moments remembering those no longer with us, and lots of laughter, particularly at the photos dragged up of our younger selves!

Fig. 1: Harrogate collection launch

I was tasked with presenting some of the successes of the Egypt Centre Online Collection, which I started work on back in 2019, and was launched three years ago in 2020 (fig. 2). Although putting together and presenting the slides provided me with an opportunity to take stock of the fantastic achievements of this collaboration, it was during the other presentations of the day by Egypt Centre staff, Swansea University lecturers, students, volunteers, conservators, and course attendees that it really hit home quite how big an impact the Online Collection has made. Seeing images of such a wide range of users interacting with the software made me quite emotional, and very, very proud!

Fig. 2: History of Abaset Collections

Following on from this success, The Harrogate Egyptian Online Collection has been designed to include all the same great features that have proven popular in the Egypt Centre Online Collection such as trails, hierarchical fields, and multiple images, audio, video, and 3D model capability (fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Impact of Abaset Collections

The story of the Harrogate loan to the Egypt Centre has already been written about in previous blog posts, but a great deal of work has been carried out since the collection’s arrival in March 2023. All 813 objects have been photographed and included within the Online Collection thanks to the tireless work of the Egypt Centre staff and volunteers (fig. 4). Many entries still require elaboration as research on the objects continues. The first trial, focusing on the objects in the first temporary exhibition is available and has already been translated into Welsh, Arabic, French, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

Fig. 4: Stelae from the Harrogate collection

The launch of the Harrogate Egyptian Online Collection has also been very successful with 425 unique users in the first twenty-four hours of its launch and 988 in the first week from all over the world (fig. 5).

Fig. 5: Percentage of unique users by country in the first week since launch

I am very pleased that the most popular object has been the wooden funerary figure (HARGM7673) as she was the reason I first visited the Harrogate collection, and suggested the Egypt Centre as the ideal location for research of the Egyptian objects to be undertaken. She was closely followed by the Funerary Stela of Hetepnesmin (HARGM3584), which is likely popular due to its position as the first object in the online catalogue! The ostracon requesting goose fat (HARGM10823) mentioned in Ken’s keynote at the celebration event, and of course, the famous Anubis mask (HARGM10686) claim third and fourth places in popularity respectively (fig. 6).

Fig. 6: Most popular object during the first week

We welcome any feedback, positive or negative, in order to help us improve things further. To do so, please email Ken Griffin at k.griffin@swansea.ac.uk or Sam Powell (Abaset creator) at abasetcollections@outlook.com; we hope you enjoy exploring our collection virtually!

Twenty-five years of the Egypt Centre: A Wonderful Celebration

This past weekend has been quite a monumental occasion at the Egypt Centre as we marked twenty-five years since the museum opened to the public. We were joined by 158 people in-person and via Zoom who were treated to an excellent day (fig. 1). This included a series of presentations relating to volunteering, education, collaboration, object-based learning, and many other themes. The recordings of these are now available here. In the leadup to the event, we received dozens of video messages from past and present volunteers and staff, which really highlight the impact that the Egypt Centre has had—and continues to have—on them. These messages can be viewed here. Thank you to everyone who sent these!

Fig. 1: Group photo of some of the in-person attendees

During this event, we launched the first temporary exhibition of the Harrogate loan, which is called Causing their Names to Live. This title takes inspiration from a common vivification formula found on statues, stelae, and other objects. For the ancient Egyptians, one of the most important things was that their name would be remembered. The thirty objects chosen for this exhibit include stelae, statues, shabtis, funerary cones, a canopic jar, and scarabs (fig. 2). The centrepiece of the exhibition is a seated statue (HARGM10634) of a lady called Senetre, the upper half of which is now missing. Fortunately, the inscriptions on the sides and back of the chair do survive, revealing that the statue was dedicated by her father Nebamun “in order to cause her name to live”. Did Senetre die young and without children, the ones who would normally be expected to undertake the vivification duties? The statue is probably the only surviving object dedicated to this lady, which makes it particularly poignant. A free pdf relating to this exhibition can be downloaded here.

Fig. 2: New Harrogate exhibition

Related to this, the Egypt Centre, in collaboration with Harrogate Museums (North Yorkshire Council) and Abaset Collection Ltd, are pleased to announce the launch of the new Harrogate online collection catalogue. This catalogue contains 813 objects currently on loan to the Egypt Centre, where they will remain for three years. The catalogue is still a work in progress, photos of all objects are already available (fig. 3). Catalogue entries remain to be written, expanded upon, and cleaned, so please bear with us while this is being undertaken. While the vast majority of the objects are Egyptian, including some originating from the excavations of Petrie and Garstang, others are from Cyprus, Mesopotamia, and other regions. The Harrogate collection can also be viewed when using the Egypt Centre’s own online catalogue. We are grateful to all those who have participated in this collaborative project, the aim of which is to make the Harrogate collection more widely accessible. We hope that you enjoy exploring the collection and we welcome feedback and research requests from colleagues!

Fig. 3: Harrogate Online Collection homepage

It was also exciting to finally put the plaster cast of Djedhor the Saviour on display following the reunification of the statue and its base in 2022. We are grateful to Anna Garnett of the Petrie Museum for coming to Swansea in order to announce this. As far as we know, this is the first time dispersed items from the Wellcome collection have been physically reunited. Djedhor has been placed in the House of Death gallery just opposite the Domestic Piety case and our mummification table. He will be a welcome addition to our displays and will also make an excellent selfie opportunity (fig. 4)!

Fig. 4: Djedhor the Saviour on display

Another newly launched display this weekend is a large Soter-style funerary shroud, which was recently conserved by Courtney Lyons (Cardiff Conservation). EC168 was purchased by Wellcome in 1906 from the collection of Robert de Rustafjaell. For years it had remained folded and attached to a backing board in the Egypt Centre’s store. The shroud was evidently in a poor state and desperately needed conservation treatment, so we were delighted when Courtney was appointed to take on this rather difficult project. After countless hours of treatment, including stitching the ancient shroud to a modern backing board, the object was returned to Swansea just a few days before our anniversary event. It was put on display for the first time in the House of Death gallery where Courtney’s fantastic work can be appreciated by our visitors (fig. 5). Hopefully we can get Courtney to write a future blog post on her experience working with this object!

Fig. 5: Courtney with the shroud after its installation

We are grateful to everyone who attended these celebrations on Saturday, whether as presenters, volunteers to help the event run smoothly, or participants who attended to hear all about the wonderful achievements of the Egypt Centre. Here’s to many more years!